Alumni News

IN NOVEMBER 2000, we sent a letter to our alumni and asked them to let us know where they are in their life and how their education in our department has impacted their life experiences. Statements received are placed in the quotation following the alumni's name. If you are one of our alumni, please feel free to send (to pllauche@owu.edu) news of your career and intellectual development to us for sharing with our current and past students.

2006

Leigh Ammon, Natural Resource Specialist, Fort Lauderdale, FL

I work in the public sector of environmental enforcement with the Broward County Environmental Protection Department in Broward County, Florida. As a Hazardous Material Inspector and a Natural Resource Enforcement Officer, I perform hazardous material inspections in regards to the compliance of environmental violations. Besides that though I have been soaking up the warmth, enjoying the beaches, and practicing Amrit Yoga while living in sunny Florida.

Recently I got the traveling bug and took a trip to Istanbul, Turkey; it was an amazing cultural experience. I have plans to travel to Brazil in May. I am also in the process of applying to graduate schools in Colorado, Canada, England, Oregon, and Ohio. All the programs have leaning towards Environmental Sociology and Environmental Development. Fingers crossed that in a couple of months I will no longer be living in Florida. (Updated 01/14/2008)

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2005

Mumtaz, Meher, Program Enrollment Manager, Cross Cultural Solutions, New Rochelle, New York

I work for an International volunteer organization called Cross-Cultural Solutions. I've been working with them since I graduated (Jan 2005). I am the team leader of the Program Enrollment Dept. which basically is recruitment and sales. Our team responds to all inquiries - we're kind of like the leader in short term volunteer programs, but we're quite pricey, because we offer a lot- including cultural learning activities. So it’s great for first time travelers to a country, who are worried about getting sick and safety, etc.

I did the Tanzania program with Cross-Cultural Solutions, (partly funded by the Hough Award) as my senior project for SOAN. Anyway, I loved it and so here I am. A lot of what it does really is help people get educated about other countries by immersing themselves in a short term volunteer stint. Funding of course is the main barrier but most people fundraise, or get funding from their schools.

We also have a China program in Xi'an. You can read more about it here: http://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/where_you_can_go/china/default.asp

I'm traveling to Peru for two weeks starting this weekend for work. I'm so-o-o-o-o excited- when I come back I'll be promoted to Program Manager for our Ayacucho, Peru program. I hope to do the China program when I move back to Pakistan- maybe also in summer 2008!

Contact information: meher@crossculturalsolutions.org (Updated 08/2006)

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2004

Watts, Amy - M.A., Peace, Conflict and Development Studies, Universitat Jaume I, Castellon, Spain

I just finished my Masters degree in Peace, Conflict, and Development Studies at Universitat Jaume I in Castellon, Spain.  It was a great experience with visiting professors from all over the world and, of course, lovely to be living in Europe for 2 years and the additional travel that allowed.  I just defended last week so now I am trying to gear up for the job hunt!

I thought of the SOAN Department many times during my recent studies because many of the classes really prepared me for the topics there.  I remember talking with Dr. Smith about going into peace studies and he told me to go to law school if I wanted to make a difference in that field!!!  I'll just have to keep some lawyer friends for consults!

Contact information:  arwatts@gmail.com  (updated 09/24/2009)

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2003

Hariramani, Resham, Director of Educational Programs, YMCA, Boston

"I am a program coordinator at a YMCA here, designing after school enrichment programs for kids in local schools, and I also get to lead a few of the programs. I'm pretty excited about it. I'm also interning at the Refugee Immigrant Ministry here, working with minority youth mostly from Africa who are asylum seekers or refugees. I'm starting up a workshop with a girl from Liberia which is going to be a lot of fun I'm sure. We're going to be doing a variety of things with them, I will probably be doing a lot of the counseling and mentoring type stuff. So all in all, things are starting to look better, a couple weeks ago, it seemed as if I would never be employed, but luckily things have begun to turn around." Resham may be contacted at reshamh@hotmail.com.

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2002

Vokoun, Rachel, Social Service Worker, Division of Family Services: Children's Division, St. Louis, MO (updated 02/28/2005)

• Conduct needs assessment and design individual case plans for children, youth, and families with a case open as a result of child abuse or neglect.
• Linked clients with referrals for mental health services, housing and other social services.

Kittredge (02), Christopher C. – Diversity and Non-Profit Public Relations

Since graduation I have been living in Washington, D.C. doing diversity and nonprofit public relations work for two years at the Diversity PR firm for clients within the African American, Hispanic, gay/lesbian and women communities. I currently do PR for a nonprofit, The Institute for Education and the Arts, which includes managing a program that is in Stark County and Columbus, Ohio.

christopher.kittredge.2002@owu.edu 12/2005

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2001

Karra, Julie (Burns '01), Prevention Coordinator, Elfrida, Arizona

I'm living in a small town southeast of Tucson called Bisbee and commuting daily with my husband, Ramesh, to an even smaller town called Elfrida where we are both working for the Chiricahua Community Health Centers. I started working here in December [2005], and Ramesh joined me working as the "small town doc" in March.

I'm the prevention coordinator for a grant the clinic received. We are just starting out, but the program is geared toward prevention of depression and dementia in those 60 years and older through exercise, mental stimulation and socialization.

As a part of the grant there's an organic community garden next to the clinic, and through focus groups and a lot of door to door outreach we came up with ideas for classes that people would be interested in. Now we have exercise classes, yoga, Spanish and English classes along with the garden. We also provide transportation to people as it's a rural area without any public transportation.

I'm learning a lot form the work here as I've been a part of building the program from the start. One of our challenges is involving the Hispanic population in our programs, so there's a lot to learn still. I'm teaching the Spanish class and am realizing how much I really enjoy teaching (hmmm, maybe Dr. Howard was right about me...☺). 04/28/2006

Thurmond (2001), Crystal M. – Doctoral Student

Thanks to God, family and good friends, Crystal Monique Thurmond (’01) is pleased to announce her graduation from Capella University with a Masters Degree in Human Services. My blessing and accomplishment will become the seed for an even greater harvest. I have applied and been accepted into the Doctoral Program for Human Services at Capella University, beginning in January 2006. 12/2005

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2000

Carevich, Aimee, Training Coordinator, Boston-area Youth Organizing Project

After graduating from OWU, I obtained my Master of Theological Studies degree at Harvard Divinity School. There, I studied world religions (with a strong preference for the anthropological approach!), as well as grass roots community mobilization. I helped to teach a course at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government called "Community Organizing: People, Power and Change" with a former Civil Rights and United Farm Workers organizer, Marshall Ganz. During my two years at Harvard, I also interned at a non-profit called the Boston-area Youth Organizing Project.

That internship led me to a full time position as their Training Coordinator. I work with urban middle and high school students to help them identify issues of concern in their schools and communities, and then help mobilize them to make political and social change. Some of our campaigns have included fighting for more summer jobs for youth, fighting for textbooks for high schools, etc. All of our campaigns and victories can be found on our website at www.byop.org.

In other news, this last year has brought my engagement to another OWU Alum from the Class of 2000, Jet Hariramani. We will be married in August of 2004 in an interfaith ceremony, and look forward to starting our lives together!

Aimee can be reached at 781-316-0178, or 6 Freeman St., Arlington, MA 02474; email is amcarevich@hotmail.com. 

Nightingale, Richard W., Broadcasting Sales Manager

I starting selling airtime for an Infinity Broadcasting radio station in 2000 and am now the local sales manager of WCMF-FM, the country’s second oldest classic rock radio station to date.

richard.nightingale@infinitybroadcasting.com 

Scott, Amanda L. - Graduate Student, Social Psychology, Ohio State University

"I am currently in the Social Psychology PhD program at Ohio State University. I am working in the area of political and law psychology with Dr. Philip Tetlock. I am currently in my second quarter here and I am midway through my first year project, which looks at the impact of counterfactual thinking on decisions of guilt and punishment for criminal defendants. I intend to pursue a career as a professor at a major research institution. I also got married in December to Jacob Glover (who did not attend Ohio Wesleyan)." Amanda Scott may be contacted at scott.665@osu.edu.

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1999

de la Torre, Catherinne - Working with the Peruvian government in the Ministry of Economics and Finance; the Ministry of Energy and Mines

"I recall my days at Ohio Wesleyan with joy. The reason is that I met amazing people that contributed to my academic, personal and professional life. What have I done after OWU? Well, I continued my education at a graduate level. I attended a graduate summer program in Boston. Then I went back to my country: Peru, and finally got my first real job in the public sector. I’ve worked for the Peruvian government, for the Ministry of Economics and Finance and the Ministry of Energy and Mines. Currently, I intend on going back to the U.S. to carry on with my education.

Now that I nostalgically look back to my student days, I realize that it would take forever to express my thoughts and feelings towards the Sociology/Anthropology Department and how my interaction with classmates and professors contributed to my life.

However, I can still appraise the Department from two perspectives: the academic and the personal. From the academic perspective, the Department provided me with the tools any sociology/anthropology student requires in order to become more aware and tolerant of social interactions. From the personal perspective, I thank the professors for sharing their knowledge, transmitting their passion towards the field, and for letting me stop by their offices just to talk about anything and everything. Thank you all for your time and dedication, and for making that experience one of the most valuable! I will definitely keep in touch!" Ms. Catherinne de la Torre can be contacted at cldelatorre@usa.net.

Fry, Heather - Ph.D. Student in Counseling Psychology at the Ohio State University

Hello to everyone in the department! It was so nice to receive the department's letter inviting all of the alumni to share their stories with you, but I can't say that I am the least bit surprised considering how much each of you always invested in each one of us during our tenure at OWU as students within the department. It really makes you feel special as a former student to receive such letters and to know that even though you are not still on campus, who you are as a person and a graduate of the program still means quite a bit to many of the wonderful people at Ohio Wesleyan.

Life after graduating from Ohio Wesleyan in 1999 has been quite good to me, and I am currently a graduate student in the PhD program in Counseling Psychology at The Ohio State University. Although it was not a pre-meditated plan to return to Columbus area for graduate school, it must have been fate (I don't think it was the lovely weather!) that brought me back to Central Ohio and within driving distance of visiting many of my favorite faces from the OWU campus. I was fortunate enough to receive a four-year assistantship with the university, and I currently serve as an academic advisor and part-time instructor to undergraduates, and although the demands of the position in addition to the work in my own program keeps me pretty busy, I have really enjoyed the opportunity to work with the undergraduates and to learn more of what it is like to attend such a large university as an undergraduate.

It is without a doubt that the knowledge I acquired through my sociology/anthropology courses has influenced me in very positive ways, and I am truly amazed at just how often I draw from things that I have learned from the program and apply them to everyday situations that I encounter. This is perhaps no more evident than in working with multicultural clients in counseling, and also through my interactions with my advisees that are international students. I can't even begin to tell you how a greater understanding and appreciation of specific cultural differences has facilitated the process of counseling with several of the clients that I have worked with, and this is definitely the case when I consider my interactions with my students as well. I have learned that acquiring a better understanding of what their experience is like here at the university helps me to understand how I may be able to help them have the best experience possible as undergraduates at OSU not only academically, but socially and personally as well.

Perhaps the most influential, and at least in my mind, the most important aspect of what I learned as a graduate of the sociology department of Ohio Wesleyan was the experience of learning in an environment where, more so than the grades or deadlines, the people mattered and cared about one another. Observing the interactions of the department's faculty members with one another and experiencing the genuine interest that each took with the students that they worked with have made me realize just how special of a place Ohio Wesleyan is for undergraduates, and without a doubt has inspired me to pursue a career that would enable me to perhaps someday give to students what was given to me.

Jafar, Afshan - Graduate Student, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Since I've come here and had the opportunity to TA for huge classes I have realized how good my undergraduate experience at Ohio Wesleyan was. I can honestly say that the best teachers that I have come across in my experience as a student were my teachers at Ohio Wesleyan. I still talk about my intro to sociology (which was with you!) and how you made it so interesting that even though it was at 8 o clock in the morning, I never wanted to miss a class! I think that we have a wonderful Sociology/Anthropology Department at Ohio Wesleyan and I don't think that there is one class or one professor at Ohio Wesleyan that I don't talk about nostalgically.

I realize more than ever how many advantages a small school has over a huge university especially for an undergraduate. I loved the fact that I could just walk into my professors' office and chat for a long time about anything and everything! On the intellectual front, I am currently working on a paper about identity issues of second generation Indians and Pakistanis in the U.S. focusing especially on how they differ for men and women. Hopefully I will be starting interviews soon - putting together a sample is somewhat of a hurdle right now, but it looks promising.

I never got to thank you or anyone else in the department for all your help and support. I really do appreciate everything I ever learned in and out of class from my teachers at Ohio Wesleyan. I feel lucky to have had such a wonderful group of teachers who introduced me to sociology. I know all this is coming a little late, but I appreciate my education more, the more I learn about undergraduate life at University of Massachusetts and other big schools. I want to thank you, Dr. Mahdi and the rest of the sociology/anthropology dept. for having made my experience so wonderful. I would love to keep in touch.

Kelling, Kristin A. - Public Health Analyst, Global AIDS Program, CDC

I graduated from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in May with an MHS in International Health -- Social and Behavioral Interventions.  It was a nice marriage of medical anthropology and public health, but Hopkins wasn't the best fit for me and I decided not to go on for a PhD at this time.  I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to spend a year as a Boren Fellow in Northeastern Brazil carrying out my thesis research on the link between environmental sanitation and infectious disease, ultimately focusing on dengue fever and issues related to water storage.  I picked up the Portuguese (unfortunately, at the expense of my Spanish) and cherished my time in the country.  After graduation I returned to Bahia to lay the groundwork for my upcoming Fulbright grant.  I had a fantastic time catching up with friends and playing with the kids at the AIDS orphanage where I volunteer.  I moved to Altanta in August to start my Presidential Management Fellowship at CDC's [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] Global AIDS Program.  My specialty is program evaluation and I am focusing on PMTCT, pediatric AIDS, and orphans/vulnerable children.  The job sounded ideal for me, but it is playing out a little differently than I imagined.  I hope things improve over time and am grateful the Global AIDS Program is allowing me to go to Brazil in late March for six months to conduct my Fulbright research, which also focuses on PMTCT and access to quality antenatal care.  [December, 2007, including photo]  kkelling@cdc.gov  

Orr, Jennifer Lynn - Community Educator, Planned Parenthood, Cleveland, Ohio

While I am still working at Planned Parenthood, I have accepted a new position as a Community Educator within the agency. I will start with the new year and am very excited. Working in the clinic has shown me that education/outreach/counseling is the direction in which I would like to head next. I will continue to have one-on-one client contact though "teen hours" at our Rocky River Center. Also, I am hoping to coordinate a resource center out of this clinic. It would be a satellite of the one at our downtown administrative office and is dependent on grant money. Then, I will perform outreach in the community served by the Rocky River Clinic. We have four clinics and (now) have an educator for each so outreach is divided up by "clinic community". Presentations and trainings to school and community groups are also a part of this job. I am nervous about this because I have limited presentation experience. What is life without some crazy dives though? (And this isn't too crazy!) I am looking forward to focusing on prevention and immersing myself in a different aspect of the field of reproductive health care. I have learned so much in the last year or so to build on the foundation I built at OWU.

Perry, D' hana Dhia - Legislative Aide, Boston

I am the new Legislative Aide for State Representative Byron Rushing. He is one of a handful of Progressive elected officials and he's a person of color. He's been in office for about 20 years, and is really down to earth.

Initially, I was very nervous about taking this job, but he assured me that while it will not be a walk in the park, it will still be a lot of fun, and I know I will learn a lot. Today was my first day, and I don't think I will get things together for at least a month, and I have to buy a lot of new clothes, but I'm looking forward to it.

[Shared through an email to Akbar Mahdi, April 2003] ddperry_99@yahoo.com

Selquist, Kimberly - Jr. Generalist/Human Resources Administrator, ABN AMRO, New York, NY

"I am doing very well and am loving life beyond OWU. I took some time off last summer to relax. Amongst my relaxing I volunteered with the International Rescue Committee. They had created a program to ready Kosovo refugee children for New York City Public Schools. I assisted in teaching Social Studies to various groups of children, ranging in age from 9 - 11 years old. It was an amazing experience!

After the program, I began working at Merrill Lynch in their Temporary Staffing Department. It is here that I recruit, interview and place temporary employees within the company. Not overly exciting, but I have learned a lot and my patience has definitely been tested."

Kimberly's latest report: "I started working for ABN AMRO in May (2001). I work as a Jr. Generalist/Human Resources Administrator. I do screening interviews, set up new hire packages and severance packages, work on special projects, headcount, etc.

Kimberly Selquist may be contacted at kselquist@hotmail.com.

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1998

DeJongh, Jenny - graduate student in Archaeology, University of Cincinnati

Dogan Levi, graduate student in Business Administration, Boston

Gaze, Catherine - working at NHVIH for psychologist Michael Lamb on a research project involving family studies

Griffin-Colker, Alexis - youth social worker, California

Khawaja, Farida - Field Coordinator, Psycho Social Program, Cross Roads Africa, Uganda

In September last year I assumed a role as a field coordinator for the expansion of the existing Psycho Social Program, which involved hiring more people and setting up programs complementing Psycho Social healing through Income Generating Activities, work with youth, recreation, counseling, social support, peace and conflict resolution, more training's and follow up_ having no experience in any of these areas, I have had the chance to learn from colleagues. LIFE CHANGED dramatically, from primarily researching and learning more about Psycho Social and doing some pilot projects (laid back comfy situation) I was running a program, in collaboration with the Local Government. With a million dollars to spend, in a war affected area, I have heard people tell me that meetings don't go well in my absence since I am seen to be the money_ authorizing releases, and having to say no to politicians - I may be a budding politicians myself.

So I am a manager, doing staff development and finances and any other nitty gritty political thing that needs to be done_ much came by surprise, I got more than expected and lost in areas which I am really interested in like, getting closer to the community rather than gaining only from behind a desk and reports submitted by a number of staff - YUP there is power, a dangerous yet exciting tool.

McGee, Kathryn - graduate student in Social Work, U. of Michigan

Sheridan, Jennifer - personnel manager for a corporation, Cleveland

Weaver, Yvette - Program Coordinator of the New York Conservation Development Program for Student Conservation

Wiesner, Barbara - acquisitions manager, Beeghly Library, Ohio Wesleyan University

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1997

Ardale, Erin K. - Legal Associate, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP, Washington, D.C. JD, Cornell Law School, 2000

"Since graduation I've been focused on law school. I received my JD this past May (2000) from Cornell Law School in Ithaca, NY. While there I had the opportunity to get involved in several law school organizations, and I served as an Associate and then Note Editor of the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, a Bench Editor of the Cornell Moot Court Board, and a Co-Facilitator of the Women's Law Coalition. I published an article on sexual harassment in my journal this past spring.

I spent my summers at two different law firms - one in Ohio and one in Washington - and ultimately chose to come to work full time here in DC this fall. I started as an Associate at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP in September. I'm working primarily as a member of the Securities Enforcement and Litigation group.

I believe my sociology major was good preparation for the things I am doing now, not so much in substance as in understanding the people I work for and with. In particular, my senior thesis for departmental honors about women lawyers allowed me to understand the challenges of my chosen profession." Erin Ardale may be contacted at erinardale@aol.com.

Chow, Jessica Machen - Youth Services Consultant

It is my pleasure to finally write the OWU community this letter for the wonderful web page. I must say that it is quite alarming and inspiring to see the tremendous things that my sociology cronies are doing throughout the world. I am humbled.

I was interested in waiting to write until I received the shiny new job title. However, I know that there are many sociology majors like myself who are not doing the "soc. thing" or who may be looking for THE job with just the right blend of activism, honor, challenge, and income (of course). Yes, I am currently and purposefully unemployed, holding out until the bitter, flat-broke end for a rewarding job.

I am experiencing a well-earned spring time renewal having just suffered a very severe case of social service burn out. I just have to stop beating myself up for taking this little break. Thankfully, a move from Delaware to Seattle has catapulted me onto the front lines of serious social service work. Regardless of what "job" I accept, I am dedicated to housing, homelessness, hunger, and poverty ministry for Seattlites. The job listings are endless, but for the first time, I feel the sting of not yet attaining that graduate degree. So for all you readers, I say to stay involved with school--if you can afford it--and consume all possible free, on-the-job training you can. There are plenty of jobs out there for you as long as you have demonstrated a commitment to constant improvement and life-long learning.

SPECIAL NOTE OF THANKS TO SOCIOLOGY FACULTY: If you didn't encourage your students to be so analytical, patient, and inquisitive, I would already be working at a Starbuck's of all God-forsaken places on earth. Thank you, faculty and friends, for empowering me through knowledge and wisdom to do something meaningful and engaging for myself and this whole wide world. I was NEVER taught that money is more important than a sense of perceiving oneself as a worthy, contributing member of society.

I must close by telling you, the reader, to be kind to yourself and to dedicate yourself to self-awareness. It is important as a sociologist to direct yourself inward as you point your finger at everyone else. Yes, we do that all the time. If you commit to purposeful living, you will be glad you have done so. And your future clients will be so thankful to know YOU--a kind, generous, confident, and thoughtful sociology major from Ohio Wesleyan University.

P.S. If you are working for Starbuck's or similar organization, it is okay; but, get out before the juggernaut steals your sociology soul away! Ms. Chow may be contact at jesschow1@yahoo.com.

Farrow, Kenyon Rashan ’97, Author/Lecturer, Brooklyn, New York

I am living in Brooklyn, New York, and though I was a Theatre major at OWU, I have also been working as a writer and lecturer for the last few years. In fact, my first book project entitled Letters From Young Activists: Today's Rebels Speak Out was published this past November by Nation Books, the book publishing wing of The Nation magazine. I am also happy to announce it will go into its second printing this coming January. You can already find it on amazon.com or in most bookstores. To learn more about the book, please visit www.lettersfromyoungactivists.org. To read more of my work as a writer, "google" me!

Contact Information: kenyonfarrow@yahoo.com 12/2005

Hager, Jackie - Law student, University of Cincinnati, Ohio

Johnsson, Rachelle - Graduate Student, George Washington University. Former Peace Corps Volunteer

Regarding the letter from the sociology department, I think I could be the poster child success story of you all J . These last three and a half years since graduation have been quite remarkable, filled with lots of changes, more school, and some incredible experiences. After finishing grad school now, I must say that it never ceases to amaze me what an incredible education I received at OWU. I mean that with all sincerity. I know that a student only gets out of school as much as they put in, which in my case explains a bit why I got so much out of it, but also, it demonstrates how much all of you were willing and able to give back to me, a very eager student. Choosing sociology as one of my majors was the best thing I ever did, for it has shaped my thinking and my choices ever since. The ironic thing is that I entered school not even knowing what the words sociology or anthropology meant. I was going to be an English major, simply because I liked to write. It goes to show you how small my world was at that time. If it had not been for the registrar randomly assigning me to Dr. Howard’s Cultural Anthropology class, perhaps I would have never ended up discovering such a delightful field at all. I even tried to drop the class that first semester, since "anthropology" sounded like some strange, unexplainable science that had no relevance for me at all. But how mistaken I was! Dr. Howard introduced me to a field that was more intriguing and relevant to me than all I had studied in high school put together. And the rest is history…

So three and something years later, no, I am not a professional sociologist, and no, I’m not in a Ph.D. program for sociology (though there is nothing saying I won’t someday be!). What I have discovered, however, is how useful having a background in sociology has been to me. It was absolutely invaluable to me as a Peace Corps volunteer, and even more so now as a graduate student in public health. My classes helped me to better understand society, injustice, politics, economic development, complex cultural issues, and most of all, myself. Since I double majored in Spanish and minored in Economics at OWU, I have been able to approach graduate school with a very complete understanding of the many variables that affect health issues both domestically and internationally such as HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases, health care, etc. Ironically, I found that in grad school I was frequently able to pick out who had majored in Sociology as an undergraduate student, because they were usually the ones who were able analyze complex health problems from both a social and economic perspective. They (like me), were also the ones who already knew how to carry out survey research, to measure the social impact of the project, and to evaluate how their own beliefs and/or biases were being projected onto the design of health interventions in low-income, minority communities.

So, in sum, I think I chose wisely, and I would never have chosen any differently. The beautiful thing about sociology is that many of my friends chose to major in this along with me, and all of us are in different places right now, all pursuing vastly different careers, in public health, fundraising, women’s rights, social services, ministry, and even the stock market! But I think all of us would agree that sociology laid an excellent foundation for not just our careers, but our life.

And Dr. Mahdi…I often think of how so much of this wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t have you, sat under your tutelage, been pushed to excellence by you, and most of all…become your friend. Thank you for investing in me and driving me to expand my mind, my abilities and my life. You are truly, in all senses of the word, an excellent professor.

Serridge, Amy - works for organization devoted to campus religious activities, Pittsburgh

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1996

Lozada-Nunez, Alexis - Financial Analyst, Fisher Scientific International, Ltd., Pittsburgh (01/25/2005) alexislozada@tutopia.com

My current position includes:

• Perform financial management analysis and reporting of Global Information Technology operations amounting approximately US$120 million: monthly P&L and Capital Expenditure variance analysis, quarterly and annual forecasts.
• Manage US$ 5 million global e-commerce project. responsible for pro-active analysis of monthly spend and identifying cost reduction and savings opportunities.
• Manage financial budget of operational strategic unit amounting approximately US$10 million.
• Perform detail-oriented analysis of US$ 5 million budget for telecommunications services, generating monthly statistical reports on consumption and spend.
• Performed IT fixed asset inventory identifying write-off of approximately US$ 18 million and generating potential savings in property taxes.
• Responsible for ad-hoc data analysis and support for all Information Systems projects and operations providing return on investment analysis and tracking all costs and benefits associated.
• Assist in monthly closing processes, making journal entries, monitor G/L accounts within Information Systems Cost Centers.

Moix, Bridget - Legislative Program Assistant, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Washington, D.C.

Steffey, Kristin - Head Women's Soccer Coach, Geneva College, Pennsylvania

Tramer, Elizabeth - Legal Assistant, Finnegan Henderson, Washington, D.C.

VanDerzee, Katherine - Coordinator of the Alumni/Parent Admission Recruitment Team, Ohio Wesleyan University

Currently, I work at Ohio Wesleyan University as the Coordinator of the Alumni/Parent Admission Recruitment Team and have been here since October 1999. I also volunteer with Special Olympics here in Delaware and run quite a bit on my own. I recently (April 2001) completed the Boston Marathon which was a great experience! Since graduating, I have had quite a few jobs! I worked as an assistant cross country and track coach at Earlham college for a year and a half and then moved to Florida with my boyfriend. Down south, I worked for a mortgage company and learned a business I had no clue about previously. Finally, my boyfriend and I decided to move back to Ohio as we are both from the Buckeye State. We moved to Columbus and luckily found jobs!

My education at Ohio Wesleyan prepared me well for the various jobs I have had thus far by teaching me how to communicate but also how to listen. My background in sociology/anthropology also helped me become a more compassionate person by understanding other's differences. Working at Ohio Wesleyan allows me to tell others about the great experiences that await them both inside and outside of the classroom here at OWU!

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1995

Brown, Ben - Artist and Cartoonist, Chicago, Il.: jtobin@midway.uchicago.edu

Campbell, Lori - Ph. D. student, Department of Sociology, Ohio State University

Dinovo, Melissa - Human Services Program Analyst, State of Florida

Khokhar, Sarah - Ph.D. Student in Sociology, Johns Hopkins University

Sarah is concentrating on comparative international development. She is about to begin her dissertation research on "Imagining Muslim Punjab: Social Production of Identity in Colonial and Post-Colonial West Punjab."

Lamphere, Susan M. "Sue" - Registrar, Christian Theological Seminary, IN

News: "In November, 2001, Sue moved to Indianapolis and is now the registrar at the Christian Theological Seminary." 11/15/2001.

"Greetings from Western Illinois! Since June of 2000, I have been living in Monmouth, Illinois. I work as the registrar at Monmouth College, which is a small private, liberal arts college -- very similar to OWU.

As far as how my major in Sociology/Anthropology helps me in my job -- well, everyday I get to work with people from all walks of life, different ethnic backgrounds, different values and experiences. Students who grew up in cities or on farms, students who came from abroad to study. Not to mention the faculty and staff. Being a registrar puts you right in the middle of things! I think the courses I took for my major helped me to become more aware and open to the beautiful differences we see every day in people everywhere. (This especially helps me in faculty meetings when I watch the sparks fly and the interesting interchanges.... have there been any sociological studies on "the faculty" as an entity??) Oh yes, also, Dr. Cohen's research methods class has come in handy as I'm expected to do institutional research as part of my job. The analysis I do is often more quantitative than qualitative, but I like to be able to interpret the quantitative with my own experiences and observations as well.

Please say hello to Drs. Howard, Peoples, Smith, J.D. and Cohen for me! I miss Delaware - still trying to get use to life in a town with a population of 9000. (I missed the class on rural sociology!)" Ms. Lamphere may be contacted at slamphere@cts.edu.

Malik, Kamran - Financial Analyst, Trans Union LLC, Chicago IL

"I am currently working for Trans Union LLC. I am also looking into applying to graduate schools, Ph.D. program, in sociology. Sociology and economics helped me in developing Risk models, segmentation (good from bad and bad from good), as well as studying the social impact of higher interest rates on different sectors of population.

Hope all is well with you and everyone else at the Sociology department at OWU. Regards to everyone." Kamran Malik may be contacted at KMALIK@tuc.com.

Rabby, Marcia - Social Worker, Pensacola, Florida

Wesp, Laurie - Admissions Counselor, Ohio Wesleyan University

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1994

Carl (Chip) Gustaf Carvell, Jr.

Being a Sociology major has exposed me to many interesting subjects and very good professors. I have been given the opportunity to learn about a wide range of topics and have experienced professors and students who are interested in and dedicated to the fields of sociology and anthropology. With this wide range of knowledge, I believe I am better able to view the world as an amalgam of people and ideas and to accept and better understand how the variety of people and groups in the world acts to enhance our time on the planet.

Good, Jason - working for a company that researches the use of web sites (M.A., U. of New Hampshire)

Hoppe, Emily - Brand Representative, Distributing Company, Atlanta, GA. Former Television Reporter

"I am currently living in Atlanta, GA. Using my social skills, I worked as a television reporter for a local television station here in GA. I helped build homes for Habitat For Humanity during the 1996 Olympics. I am currently a Brand Representative for a wine, beer and spirits distributor."

Leidtke, Adam - seminary student, Methodist Theological Seminary

McKinley, Meredith Javersak - Ph.D. program in Sociology, Ohio State University

Price, Kimberly - Ph.D. student, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

"I am working towards my doctorate in sociology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and supporting myself as a teaching assistant and instructor.  Last year I taught three sections of sociology of the family and published my first article, "Stripping  Women: Workers Control In Strip Clubs," in Current Research On Occupations and Professions. Most recently, I defended my prospectus and have been applying for research grants. For my dissertation, I will continue research on constructions of gender, sexuality, and race/ethnicity in the work of female and male strippers in the greater Connecticut river valley."

Sultana, Nevine - Consultant, Social Sector Team, Health Nutrition and Population, The World Bank, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Zalla, Matthew - Ph.D. program in Anthropology with Jacob Javits four year fellowship, Columbia U

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1993

Anderson, Kingsley - Gallery Owner, Sculptor, Web Designer

"I departed for West Africa only about six weeks after leaving OWU. I spent 26 months in Mali, West Africa as a Health Educator with the Malian Ministry of Health via the U.S. Peace Corps. My anthropology and sociology studies were of course invaluable in Mali! I worked mainly with volunteer health care workers from five rural villages involved in everything from AIDS prevention to soybean cultivation. Specifically, my independent study on Caribbean cultures with Mary Howard stands out not only as a motivational force yet one of continual reflection on my service in Mali. In addition, Jim Peoples' course "Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion" helped me in understanding the various belief systems of the villages with which I worked. My wife Shana and I have been very busy preparing for the March 2005 opening of our studio/gallery here in Albuquerque, New Mexico: Anderson Studio and Gallery (http://AndersonStudioGallery.com). The gallery will feature bronze, clay, and mixed media sculpture made by me, jewelry by Shana, and a collective work of home decor. My latest body of work focuses on masks inspired by my time in Mali, West Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer and my studies at OWU. As a division of the gallery, I plan to also offer web development services as Webport Design (http://WebportDesign.com). (May our paths cross again soon!)." Kingsley Anderson may be contacted at Kingsley@AndersonStudioGallery.com To see pictures taken by Kingsley in Mali, click here. (Entry updated 03/14/2005.)

Berlin, Andrea (Andi Fisher) - Rabbi, Temple Sinai, Oakland, California

"My most recent news is that I married Jonathan Berlin on September 3. Though my sociology/anthropology background at OWU did not factor greatly into my marriage, it has been a tremendous help to my career. As a full-time rabbi of a 900 family congregation in an ethnically and religiously diverse city, I use my background from Ohio Wesleyan practically every day. My sociology/anthropology degree has given me the ability to view my work and my community as part of a larger society. The training from OWU has also helped me to relate to people with vastly different backgrounds." Rabbi Berlin may be contacted at RBerlin@Oaklandsinai.org.

Hewitt, Erika - seminary student, United Methodist Church

Johnston, Naima - Office of Residence Life, Ohio Dominican College, Columbus

Kuhn, Christine - Ph.D. student in the School of Public Health and Public Administration, Columbia University

Meyerho1z, Lisa - manager of educational services for junior high programs for junior achievement of New York City

Rajbhandari, Pranab - Ph.D. program in Sociology, Michigan State U

Savitch, Jennifer (previously Jennifer Leukart) - Charter Pilot at Martinair, Reagan Washington National Airport

"I moved first to Seattle Washington with my then Ohio Wesleyan boyfriend Jonathan Savitch (we were married in August of 1997). We then moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where we both started and finished most of our graduate school/training. Now, we both have a house in Alexandria, Virginia, where we have more or less settled for a while. Jonathan is an in-house lawyer for Thompson CSF, and I am a Lear Jet pilot for a charter company called Martinair, based at Reagan Washington National Airport, hoping to get into the airlines soon -- if I am lucky.

I first was a traffic pilot for a while, then was a flight instructor. After that, I became captain on the Barons. Now, I fly first officer in the Lear jet 20 and 30 series aircraft. We have an awesome dog named Cadence."

Sheets, Sara - Assistant to the Mayor, Cincinnati (M.A. in urban planning, UCLA)

Tobin, Jennifer - graduate student in Theology, Chicago

Walker, Angela - Social Worker, New York State's Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services

"After graduating from OWU, I moved to NYC where I became a caseworker in the NYC child welfare system. I worked as a caseworker for 6 years with children who have suffered from abuse and neglect, helping them achieve permanency. It was a tough position and took it's toll on me. I currently work for New York State's Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. I monitor substance abuse intervention and prevention programs in NYC. I'm currently attending New York University where I hope to achieve my master's in social work." Angie Walker may be contacted at AngWalker4@aol.com.

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1992

Eldridge, Michelle - M.A. in Sociology, U. of Wisconsin

Kordonski, Jennifer (formerly Belman) - Social Worker, Health Care Policy Analyst

"I was happy to receive your letter the other day requesting an update on my life post-OWU. My sociology/anthropology education at OWU certainly did prepare me for my life and career (at least the last 8 years since graduation!).

I graduated from OWU in the Spring of 1992. I began graduate school in the Fall of 1992, pursuing a Masters Degree in Social Work at the University of Maryland. While in school I did my field work the first year at a State run inpatient acute psychiatric facility. During the summer of my first and second years I worked at a Veteran's Hospital providing substance abuse counseling to older veterans. My second year field work found me working at a life-care community for the elderly, as gerontology is my area of specialization. I graduated with my Masters in Social Work in the Spring of 1994.

Six weeks after graduation I began work at the same Veteran's Hospital I had worked as a student. I worked at this hospital for 5 years, providing substance abuse counseling and counseling to veteran's and families dealing with issues of death and dying. During this time I received my state licensure. It was also during this time, and at this hospital, where I met my husband (who is also a social worker!).

After 5 years of providing direct patient care, I decided that I was interested in the public policy side of social work. To this end, I began working at the Health Care Financing Administration in the summer of 1999. This is the Agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid. I work in the area of Consumer Rights and Protections, writing health care policy.

I hope this update is helpful in educating students about the possibilities of a career in the area of sociology. Thanks for getting in touch!" Jennifer (Belman) Kordonski may be contacted at JKordonski@hcfa.gov.

Malik, Adnan - Ph.D. program in Sociology with full fellowship, University of Chicago

Rudolph, Jennifer L. - Ph.D. Student, Bowling Green State University and Project Coordinator for Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study

"After graduating from OWU in 1992, I worked for a couple of years as a patient advocate at a women's health center and as an testing assistant to a private psychologist. I began grad school in 1994 at Bowling Green State University, received my MA in sociology in 1997, and am now completing my dissertation in sociology (Ph.D. expected in 2001). Last year I was hired by three BGSU sociology professors to coordinate their research project (from 1999 to 2003) on adolescent dating and fertility behaviors, so I will be at BGSU for a few more years before finding a more permanent job." Ms. Jen Rudolph may be contacted at jrudolp@bgnet.bgsu.edu.

Schaltenbrand, Rebecca - Assistant City Attorney 1, Capital University Law School

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1991

Crane, Lara McMullin - M.S.W., High School Counselor

"I can not adequately express how well the Sociology/Anthropology Department at OWU prepared me for life after college. For the first three years post graduating from OWU. I worked as a Student Assistance Counselor (SAC) at the High School levels. Most of my time was spent working with high risk youth, and my undergraduate course work gave me an strong understanding on how culture/families impact the development of the human being and the choices they make. During this time I found a mentor who encouraged me to consider furthering my education in the field of social work, and this was the best choice I could have made. And the amazing part was when I entered the University of New England's Master's in Clinical Social Work Program, the professors could not believe the level of information/preparedness I had from the undergraduate level. The MSW program was rigorous, especially since I was one of the youngest in the program, as most had 15 plus years of field experience and multiple degrees. I felt I was able to operate at the same level because of my studies at OWU. (The Sociology/Anthropology Department gave me more than I truly understood or valued at the time and has continued to do so).

While at OWU my senior year I participated in a year long internship at Turning Point, a domestic violence prevention/intervention program in Marion, and I have continued to work/volunteer in this area since. When I arrived in NH they were desperate for people to help the cause, and this ultimately led to my first job as SAC. I have now spent 10 years advocating/educating the community and professionals about domestic & sexual violence. I thank Dr. Cohen in his willingness to promote my internship and his courses, as well as his general guidance throughout my years at OWU.

During my MSW program I worked as a therapist, psychatric social worker. Post MSW program I worked in private practice for two years consulting with hosiptals, hospice and domestic violence program, as well as have worked collaboratively in the development of Community Sudden Death Teams. Again, all of my coursework from OWU was woven throughout these endeavors. Two years ago I rejoined a school system and now work as a High School Counselor, and continue to reflect and draw upon my OWU learning experience. (And encourage young people to take courses in sociology at the high school level).

Along with Dr. Cohen, I must also acknowledge Dr. "JD" Durst's influence. His courses in Race & Ethnicity, Crime & Deviance (the trip to prison), and Images of Society (which I spent time studying the rituals of the Hari Krishna's and review my slides from time to time) stand out. (And I am still trying to get to Mardi Grais for research). A major in Sociology/Anthropology is well worth it, as the doors that open are immeasurable. And it is because of the dedication of all of the faculty that I have found a full-filling profession." Lara McMullin Crane may be contacted at laracrane@hotmail.com.

Dahlquist, Kristine - high school math teacher, Hawaii

Ewig, Elizabeth - Alumni Career Counselor, Seton Hall U

Furth, Rebecca - Ph.D. program in Anthropology, U. of Wisconsin

Grunden, Amanda M. - Computer Assisted Instruction Specialist, Web Technology Group, Academic Outreach - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Remember reading Miner’s Nacerima? My job is to make sure that people figure out the chest of magic trinkets is no more than a medicine cabinet in an American bathroom. Actually, I make sure that a variety of people from K-12 teachers, college professors, Fire Fighters, corporate trainers, county workers, etc, see and understand technology for what it is. Then, if the translation from foreign to familiar is successful, I help them utilize on-line learning technology through the development of Computer Based and/or Assisted Training Modules. Officially I am called a Computer Assisted Instruction Specialist. Unofficially I like to change my title every few months to things like Knowledge Object Coordinator, Cultural Knowledge Broker, and Dynamic Media Manager.

While completing my dissertation (1999) in anthropology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign I soon found myself overwhelmed with a wealth of aural and visual data: interviews, stories, dances, songs, etc. In the process of deciding how best to present the information I was gathering, I started exploring hypertext documents. That is, formatting my dissertation information in such a way that readers could link to various multimedia events such as digital video or audio and navigate the text in a nonlinear fashion. Although the dissertation did not turn out to have the multimedia presence I had envisioned, I did find an interesting niche for my anthropology and growing technology skills.

Two significant projects I have worked on in the last year include the Digital Cultural Heritage Community Project http://images.library.uiuc.edu/projects/dchc/ and the On-line Fire Fighter II Certification http://www.outreach.uiuc.edu/Fire/. The Digital Cultural Heritage Community Project considered the state learning objectives for Social Science grades 3, 4, and 5 and then asked surrounding museums and libraries to digitize learning objective appropriate content for inclusion in a database from which teachers could pull and use in their lesson plans. The Fire Certification project required learning about a subculture with a unique vocabulary and means of communicating amongst themselves. Until I could begin to understand how and why these fire fighters responded the way they did to certain fire hazards, I was not able to videotape or create Flash animations that accurately depicted fire behavior and the proper procedures for arresting fires. My current challenge resides in trying to understand what factors make distance learning most appealing to faculty members and on-campus developers and match those findings with available resources to strengthen our Guided Individualized Studies program. What I have learned from these projects, whether dissertation or distance learning modules, is that the solid foundation I received in social sciences at Ohio Wesleyan has come back time and time again to serve as a springboard from which new ideas and skills are learned." Dr. Amanda M. Grunden may be contacted at agrunden@uiuc.edu.

Lauck, Molly - Ph.D. program in Medical Anthropology, Michigan State University

Murray, Captain Joseph - Officer, U.S. Marine Corps Renessa Berger, stage manager for a private theater, Island of Guam

Russell, Jerry V. Jr. - Outreach Social Work, Directions for Youth, Columbus

I have been active in social work in the Columbus area for the past nine years, working with children at risk. I am employed by Directions for Youth and am currently teaching a course on "Racial Tolerance and Acceptance" in the middle schools in the area.

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1990

Chapple, Constance (Connie) - Assistant Prof. of Sociology, U. of Nebraska

Cowper, Mark - Corporate Recruiter, Divine Tower International

After graduation, I stayed here in Ohio and acted as the Fraternity Advisor to the Tau Kappa Epsilon house. Obviously, my efforts proved fatal and I moved to Hilliard. I worked in the golf market for three years as a golf professional. From there I started an HR career as an employment specialist with Eddie Bauer/Speigel. I was there 4 years before an opportunity to become an HR Generalist came about and I took it. In the spring of 98, I started a career as a recruiter, and leave the HR scene. I loved the people interaction in HR, but did not like the day to day issue handling and dispute clean up. Recruiting gave me the opportunity to utilize my HR skills, but also use my sales expertise. I was a head hunter for two years, and then became the Senior Corporate Recruiter for Qwest Communications. With the recent layoff at Qwest, I was no longer needed and the job search began again!

Now I am the National Corporate Recruiter for Divine Tower International; a Telecommunications corporation here in Columbus. It is a great position with opportunity to grow.

How did the Soc. staff at OWU prepare me for the "real world"? Hmmmmmmm. I would have to say that all my professors added insight to what I would face in the business world. I had no intention of directly working in a social position. I wanted to get into sales. But the 1990 market was less than desirable. Even so, the opportunity to learn about social issues prepared me for the issues I would face in HR, and how to deal with them.

I believe the Race and Ethnicity course with Durst gave me insight into a world I had not known growing up in Connecticut! I still take most of the precepts I learned in that class to this day. Durst was also instrumental in my love for photography and his class "Images of Society". And of course, if I were to leave out the memorable trips to the Backstretch after evening class, I would be doing John a great injustice. Thanks!

Jim Peoples was a real character! I am honored to be one of his first students at OWU, though I know my grades did not reflect that! Ha! But I took great interest though in learning about cultural anthropology. I am married to a lady who loves a good dig on TV. We have a dream vacation set for about a decade from now in which we go on Archeological tours in Europe. Go figure!

Mary Howard did not really teach me anything in the classroom. However, her impact on my college years is with me today. She shared with me (perhaps without her knowing) how to be compassionate with the world around me. How to be sensitive to the issues that we all face and how to keep a smile on your face through it all. She was more instrumental to me as a confidant rather than a professor. Our outdoor field trip near her home with the rest of the class is still crystal clear in my mind. That was a great day!

The theories that Jan Smith taught me are still stuck in the back reaches of my brain. Every now an then they surface and I still cannot grasp them! One day I will get a grip and understand what Social Theory is all about, but man that was a tough class!

And of course Ted Cohen, my advisor and how-to-be-a-dad instructor. The Family course I took still stays with me. I know the correlation between the family and society, but I learned more than that from Ted. With a family of my own, most of what I learned in the classroom are incredibly valuable to me now."

Klocinski, Jennifer - finishing dissertation in Medical Sociology at U. of Pennsylvania

Roxlau, Blake - Archaeologist, Marian Associates, Inc., Albuquerque (M.A. in Archaeology, University of Northern Arizona)

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1989

Abuls, Cherie - Unum. Insurance, Chicago

Pratt, Lara - Teacher, Tacoma Public Schools

Ricketts, Monica - Nurse, Columbia Hospital, Milwaukee

Dalton, Susan - Student Admissions Coordinator, Wyoming Technical Institute

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1984

Fishman, Terri (formerly Terri A. Oster) - Lawyer

"I graduated in 1984. In fall, 1985 I started law school as a full time day student, graduating from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1988, passed the bar in fall 1988. Clerked at Davis & Young, lpa from 1986 to 1988, when I became an associate. Practiced law until 1991. Then I quit to stay home with my children who are 8 and 10 now. In fall of 1998, I started a very tiny weeny company, and bought fixed up and sold a house. Now I am doing some interior renovation and volunteering at school." Terri A. Oster may be contacted at tfishman@raex.com.

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1983

Anderson, Eleanor H. - Senior Mobility Specialist at the Cleveland Sight Center. M.A. in Peripatology, Boston College

In regard to your letter concerning my experiences outside OWU, I graduated in '83 and then spent a year at Boston College getting at Master of Arts in Peripatology. This is a specialized field that deals with teaching the visually impaired and blind population how to travel independently using their remaining vision, cane or dog. The program was highly intensive and besides classroom work we also had field training where we stimulated various visual impairments (glaucoma, retininitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, etc.) to help us understand our clients limitations as well as using low vision aids properly and learning numerous cane techniques. The program ended with a 3 month practicum at various agencies across the country where we got hands on training.

Once my internship was over in Richmond, Va. I accepted a job as a Senior Mobility Specialist at the Cleveland Sight Center. I was at this agency for almost 6 years working with a client population from school children to the elderly in their home environments. I thoroughly enjoyed my job and met many interesting people. Once I had my first child though, my priorities changed, and I became at stay at home Mom. I may get back into the profession next year when both my children are in school, but will need to get re-certified." Eleanor H. Anderson may be contacted at EANDO21276@aol.com.

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1979

Shainman, Claudia (Formerly LaGueux) - Human Resources Manager, Ecke Seamans Cherin & Mellott, Washington, DC.

"Currently, I work in Washington, DC as the Human Resources Manager for Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, a Pittsburgh based law firm. Prior to this position, I was Human Resources Manager at Arnold & Porter, a large Washington, DC, based law firm. I am a member of the Association for Legal Administrators (ALA) and active in the legal community." Ms. Shainman may be contacted at czs@escm.com.

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1978

Miller, Craig A. - Administrative Director and Mental Health Counselor, Measterpeace Counseling, Tecumseh, Michigan. M.S.W., Michigan State University, 1980. M.H.S.A., University of Detroit, 1985

"My years at Ohio Wesleyan were a great time of personal and educational growth.My education in sociology prepared the way for me to continue my education in the field of social work. I obtained a Masters in Social Work from Michigan State University in 1980 and received a Masters in Health Services Administration from University of Detroit in 1985. Since that time, I worked in inpatient medical and mental health settings and in 1993 co-founded an outpatient agency in Tecumseh, Michigan called MASTERPEACE Counseling (www.mpccd.com) with six therapists and one psychiatrist on staff. For a period I had a radio talk show called "Insights from the Heart," with the North American Broadcasting Company. In the summer of 2001. I will have a book entitled "When Feelings Don't Come Easy" become published through Erica House Publishers. I have a wonderful wife of 18 years marriage with two sons." Craig A. Miller may be contacted at cmillerfam@juno.com.

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1977

Rugart, Cynthia ("Cinch") - Nursing Administrator. Information Systems

"Since graduating, I have settled in Villanova, PA, directly across the street from the Villanova University Law School. In 1993 I graduated with a BSN from Villanova School of Nursing after an 11 year stint in Information Systems (mainframes: Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, Shared Medical Systems, Sunguard Data Systems and GE Aerospace).

I worked for three years on the Medical Intensive Care Units of the University of Pennsylvania Hospital and am currently working in administration at a Skilled Nursing facility in Bryn Mawr, PA.

I have been mildly active with OWU alumnae/i events in the Philadelphia area over the years despite having only attended OWU for two years. One of my great joys at OWU was working in the theatre (heavy-duty play time, as I used to call it...). Last year I helped to start a visiting artist endowment fund." Cynthia Rugart may be contacted at crugart@bellatlantic.net.

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1975

Littlefield, Gary E. - Business Owner, Framingham, MA. Formerly Director of Youth Center, Probation Officer, and Grant Writer

"I graduated from OWU in 1975 with an experimental major in Social Welfare. This was an experimental department under the guidance of Tom Brittenham. Upon graduation I painted houses for three months. I then took a position at a halfway house in Columbus working the front desk during the 11pm to 7am shift. I used this time to scour the Columbus papers for work.

I applied for positions I was and wasn't qualified for. I finally was selected from a field of 300 (remember there was a recession in 1975) and accepted a position as the Director of a Youth Center in Bellefontaine, Ohio. The wages I received were through the Comprehensive Employment & Training Act (CETA) to the tune of $8,000 a year. I quickly developed this program for low income children into a vibrant & active destination. I stayed for one year.

I got married to an OWU Psychology major and we took over a group home for delinquent boys in the same town. We operated this home for six boys who were adjudicated to the program through the juvenile courts. My wife and I were Logan County Probation Officers. It was here that I learned how to write grants as this program was funded by the Law Enforcement Assistance Act (LEAA). After thirteen months at the group home we burned out and took off a couple of months.

I then volunteered driving senior citizens back and forth to chemo appointments and landed a job at the Tri County Community Action Commission in Bellefontaine. I became the Planner responsible for acquiring 3 million in funding to run programs for low income people. The administration portion of this agency came from Community Action which became the Community Services Administration. By the time I left there (two years) I had them up to 4.5 million.

I was recruited to a smaller CAP agency in Springfield, Ohio. Here again I double their funding in one year to about two million dollars. We now find ourselves two years into a Reagan WhiteHouse and the funding goes in reverse for the first time. Understanding Reagan's strengths I decide to get out of the grants writing business. My wife decides (now that we have a son) that she would like to move back to her home state of Massachusetts. In three months I had a job as a management trainee for a Massachusetts retailer called Paperama. In ten weeks I was moved into the buying office. Two years later I was a Senior Buyer with responsibility for half of the store. I stayed there until 1988. Management infighting left me as an odd man out so I accepted a buying position at Child World headquartered in Avon, MA. I stayed there one year and soon read the handwriting on the wall that they were going to go bankrupt. The previous owner of Paperama that had been ousted in a management dispute contacted me to help him open up a closeout store near my home. I opened his store and left after four months to open my own closeout store in Framingham, MA. I have been at this store now for eleven years. I am located in a low income section of town and do more to help low income people then when I worked for the government. All of my staff were once on public assistance. None of my staff completed high school. They have become solid tax paying citizens with a vocation. My prices help the low income customers extend their budgets. I also do tons of community stuff that makes me feel good. Little does the Town of Framingham know of the good deeds I do on a daily basis for my shoppers. Well you asked for input and you got the 50 cent review." Mr. Littlefield may be contacted at kycassto@adelphia.net.

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1972

Knepp, Joel - Medicaid Health Systems Administrator, The Bureau of Community Long Term Care Services, Ohio, Department of Job and Family Services Online

"Thanks for your letter of October 30. It was the first peep I have heard from the OWU Sociology Dept. since graduation in 1972- what a surprise! I left the department and OWU with a bad taste in my mouth from a mandatory two-term course roughly analogous to your current Methods of Social Research. I considered the course odious, totally unrelated to my academic and career interests, and an unjustifiable impingement on my senior party time!

In those days, a specialty track called social welfare was offered in the department, taught by Tom Brittenham. Tom, a real live wire, was a former community organizer who also had worked in public welfare. The course series looked at government programs and policies as a response to social problems. Beyond this track, the department offered a few interesting courses, especially in anthropology, but was generally weak, lacking direction and leadership. By the time I figured this out, it was too late to change majors and still graduate on time.

Despite the department's shortcomings, the social welfare track gave me a good grounding in what was to be my career choice. Over the years my degree has opened many doors. Unlike most of my fellow grads, I've had practically no formal education since.

I have spent the years since graduation in a variety of public service jobs with Franklin County and the state of Ohio, in the fields of public health, welfare, aging, employment, and MR/DD. I have been with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) for the past 12 years with the Medicaid program, working at the state administrative level (not direct service) with preventive health care programs for pregnant women and children, policy development, and for the past 3 years, home and community-based health care as an alternative to nursing home placement. I am a Medicaid Health Systems Administrator with the Bureau of Community Long Term Care Services, Office of Ohio Health Plans, ODJFS. My job is stimulating, demanding, and worth doing. I am fortunate to work with hard-working, intelligent, and creative people who bring large amounts of experience and dedication to bear in service to Ohio's low-income people with disabilities and medically fragile conditions.

On what I learned at OWU and how it relates to my life today, I think the experience of learning to get along with diverse people in the dorms, fraternity, classrooms, and the town had much more impact than any courses I took. In terms of course content, the anthropology courses really interested me and have "stuck" to a greater extent than anything else academic. Often as I travel or attend functions, I put on my imaginary and extremely amateur anthropologist hat and become a detached observer. As for the straight sociology courses, let's just say I seldom think of Max Weber!

Here's our work web address if anyone is interested in what an old OWU sociology/social welfare major does for a living. http://www.state.oh.us/odjfs/ohp/bcltcs/index.stm. Mr. Knepp may be contacted at KNEPPJ@ODJFS.STATE.OH.US.

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1971

Anson, Betty Robie - Vice President in Human Resources, Daymon Associates

"What a great idea! I'm a 1971 graduate. I think I was the first Corporate Anthropologist! In 1972, I was explaining to interviewers how helpful anthropology is in understanding how organizations really work. I feel that the grounding I got in culture, and how culture works, was critical to my understanding of complex organizations.

I'm a VP in Human Resources in an international marketing and corporate branding company called Daymon Associates. I've been in HR (VP HR at Chemical now Chase Bank for 15 years, VP HR in an 11,000 employee health system) since I graduated. I have my MA and PhD credits in Organizational behavior.

I continue to be socially active in Democratic politics and in community activities that began at OWU. I wouldn't trade the educational and life experience I got there for anything. If I can be helpful to current or past students, please e-mail." Ms. Anson may be contacted at BAnson@daymon.com.

Erskine, Margy - Teacher. Foster Care and Adoption Specialist. Director of Hospital Volunteers

"I have been living in Arizona since 1974, and have been teaching 20 of those years. I began at an alternative highschool, then juniorhigh, and now elementary school. I also teach for our community college, English as a Second Language. For several years I was a Foster Care and Adoption Specialist as well as a Director of Volunteers for our hospital. The last two jobs used my social work background the most of all. I am on our community's Grad Night Board which offers an all-nighter to our highschool graduates , free of drugs and alcohol; am on a committee for Habitat for Humanity; am team leader for Character Education for my school; am on a team for Learning Communities for my school; am a collegial assistant to teachers who are on improvement plans; and am an active member of my teachers' association." Ms. Margy Erskine may be contacted at ot_erskine@yumaed.org.

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1970

Bacci, Diana S. H. (Formerly Diana Shawhan) - Registrar, Eastern College, St. Davids, PA.

"Rather than going to graduate school in Cultural Anthropology, which disappointed my faculty advisor, I married a naval officer during the Vietnam War. My job in college administration later provided an opportunity for me to earn the Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resources Management. I have always valued my grounding in Cultural Anthropology and taught the introductory course at my college in summer sessions when professors were on research leave.

Cross-cultural understanding is the thread woven through so much of our curriculum in higher education today. We view our world from global perspectives and study the human condition within religious, philosophical, economic, linguistic, political and social frameworks. I cannot think of a more appropriate undergraduate preparation than Cultural Anthropology for the work I am doing now." Diana S. H. Bacci may be contacted at dbacci@eastern.edu.

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1969

Coulton, Dr. Claudiab - Professor, Center On Urban Poverty and Social Change, Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University

"I am Claudia Coulton, class of 1969. I majored in sociology. I am now the Lilian F. Harris Professor of Urban Research and Social Change at Case Western Reserve University's Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. I received my PhD at CWRU in Social Welare in 1978. I also direct the Center on Urban Poverty and Social Change at CWRU and you can find out about the Center at http://povertycenter.cwru.edu.

Sociology at OWU was directly responsible for my career choice, to pursue an academic career. I especially loved Social Theory and Social Problems while at OWU, thus, my choice to do research on social problems. I also love quantitative methods and wish I had spent more time taking math and statistics as an undergraduate.I would encourage all sociology majors to take as much math as possible and also aquint themselves with the basics of the other social sciences. Interdisciplinary is the focus of all work on social problems today." Dr. Coulton may be contacted at cxc10@po.cwru.edu.

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1968

Gross, Mark P. - Director, Gross Technologies Inc., 1991-1996; Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1990-92

After completing his degree at Ohio Wesleyan University, Mr. Gross completed his Master's of Social Work at Washington University, George Warren Brown School of Social Work, St. Louis, Missouri in 1972. He served as Director, F. R. Gross Company Inc., Stow, Ohio (1988-1996); Project Specialist, University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Medicine, Department of Preventive Medicine (1983-1984); Executive Director, La Clinica de Los Campesinos, Inc., Wild Rose, Wisconsin (1980-1983); Research Associate/International Associate, The Johns Hopkins University, Department of International Health School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, MD/Jamaica, West Indies (1978-1979); Administrative Director, The Johns Hopkins University, Physician's Assistant Program, School of Health Services, Baltimore, MD. (1975-1977); Instructor, The Johns Hopkins University, Physician's Assistant Program, School of Health Services, Baltimore, MD. (1973-1977); Psychiatric Social Worker: Fallsview Mental Health Center, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, (1970-1971); and Child Welfare Worker, Summit County Children's Services Board, Akron, Ohio (1968-1970).

Stephanie Kinter Traub - Social Worker, Disability Liaison

After leaving OWU in 1968, Ms. Traub continued her studies and received her M.S.W. from the University of Pennsylvania, School of Social Work, in 1970. She also received her C.S.W. and C.S.W. from the State of New York. She worked as a medical social worker at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Clinical Center of the National Cancer Institute. As she writes, "most recently I have worked for a Head Start Program in Westchester Co., New York as a social worker and disability liaison.

For the last three years I have lived with my family in Birmingham, U.K. where my husband is a Principal Research Fellow with the Wellcome Trust and a Professor in the Neuroscience Department. I have worked for Oxfam and am still a volunteer there - organizing the second-hand books in one of their shops. I am also working part-time in an independent bookshop - a temporary career change which I have really enjoyed. My husband and I have two sons, Matthew who is 21 and a senior chemistry major at Princeton and Garrett, who is 15 and is a student at the King Edward VI School in Birmingham. We are planning to return to the US (and our former community of Ossining, New York) next year. I am planning to return to social work and have started a course here in Latin American Spanish . Prior to the move to the UK I had felt an increasing need to have some knowledge of Spanish."

Wessels, Sarah L. - ESL Teacher (English as a Second Language), Ithaca, New York

"I don't keep actively in touch with OWU, I suppose because I'm not much of a believer and a joiner, but I feel most positive about the quality of instruction I received back in '64 to '68.

I decided that I was most interested in anthropology when I was a sophomore and took an introductory course with Frank Hamer. With his help I was able to spend October through March of my junior year in Sierra Leone with the Kalamazoo College program. That experience was very positive for me and I almost found it hard to come home. I learned to speak Krio with enough proficiency to make my friendships with other students and bartering in the market place a lot of fun. (And, of course now I follow the tragedies in Sierra Leone with great sorrow.) In my senior year, I spent the winter term at Ohio State taking five anthropology courses. That was very intense, but I was determined.

I went to Syracuse University in anthropology from the fall of '68 through the spring of '70, first working part time and then getting an assistantship. I did well, but I felt disappointed with the caliber of the discourse there, especially among the graduate students. Furthermore, I should acknowledge the impact of the U.S. war in Vietnam (and everything related to that for people in my generation) on my feelings of disillusionment. In hindsight, I'd say that I was tired of studying about how other people lived; I wanted to live, myself. So, with the encouragement of a new boyfriend, I dropped out despite my academic success, and didn't even take measures to turn those two years into a master's degree.

For two years in Syracuse I worked in a new, experimental "free school" for children. I liked working with kids, but clearly lacked the training that makes an effective teacher. I spent many weekends and several summers on a "communal" farm where we gardened intensively and kept animals. I liked very much having a direct hand in the work that nurtured me and others. I became physically strong and even worked with my partner to build a small stone house.

In the winter of 1973, after careful thought and investigation, my partner (later to become my first husband) and I moved to Ithaca, New York, where I still live. There, I eventually started to work as a carpenter in a small worker-owned residential construction business. At around the same time we married and adopted a young girl who had been abandoned by her mother. In 1974, we established a co-housing neighborhood, where I still live (with my second husband). I continued to work as a carpenter and then as a contruction business coordinator, sometimes part time because of my children, until 1990. Meanwhile, I was active in efforts here to change American foreign policy in Central America. I began to learn Spanish, having befriended Chilean refugees here, and even went with part of my family (second husband and seven year old adopted son) to Nicaragua to live with a family and attend a language school. I've always maintained an interest in international matters and in social and economic justice issues - an interest which was well fed at OWU.

In 1990, having decided that a serious career re-direction was in order, I started an intensive one-year masters in teaching program at the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont. My husband, who has a PhD in anthropology and Southeast Asian studies from Cornell University, but who, like me, took a turn from academia and was a worker-owner and cook at Moosewood Restaurant, accompanied me with our then-9 son. The following year, he did the one-year MAT program. The experience and the school was very succesful for both of us. We now work teaching English as a second language to adults in a program in Ithaca. I am the program coordinator and also teach. My "specialty" has become refugees who must find work within a short period of time, despite their language skills. (Just one of the atrocities created by welfare "reform.") Many of them do not have a personal history of academic success and have been blue color workers. Others, for example some from Burma, have little education at all and have lived and fought in the jungle with the Burmese student movement for a decade. To some degree, because of my anthropology education and my own life history, I understand "where they are coming from." And this makes me a more effective teacher.

There is a thread that runs through my life, beginning with the international visitors that came to my suburban home when I was a child and continuing with my anthropology and psychology (my minor) studies at OWU, OSU, and Syracuse. However, there was a time when I had to be reminded to pick up the thread and keep weaving. In 1989 and 1990 when I was doing some career soul searching, I visited our local Department of Labor and asked for some advice. They handed me a book that lists careers by college major. Under "anthropology" was "ESL teacher". "Oh," says I, "I could do that." Now, after ten years in that field, I feel very capable and comfortable, well qualified and happy."

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1964

Kirkwood, Virginia ("Ginny" Pearsall) - Peace Corps, Special Olympics

I have put to use my cultural anthropology background in a number of ways throughout my lifetime. I worked as a Peace Corps Volunteer (1964-66) in Turkey serving as a teacher in provincial and slum orphanages. I later became Country Director of the Peace Corps in Thailand (1990-93), where I introduced an extensive AIDS Education Program and expanded environmental and engineering projects. I also served as Director of the National Peace Corps Association (1994-2001) and of the National Peace Monument Foundation (1995-2001).

I have also been active with Special Olympics - Chairman of the Board of the Pennsylvania Special Olympics (1985-89), Founder of both the Thailand (1987) and Pakistan (1989) Special Olympics, and Consultant for the International Special Olympics in China, The Phillippines, Singapore, Thailand, Nepal, and Pakistan (1987-2001).

In additional to my international work, I have been active in my local community in Pennsylvania where I have served as Director of Wordsworth Academy (residential homes and schools for emotionally disturbed children), President of the Pocono Mountains Chamber of Commerce, as an Elder on the Board of Trustees of Shawneed Presbyterian Church, Director/Owner of The Shawnee Group and Producer of the Shawnee Playhouse. Ms. Kirkwood may be contacted at ginny@kirkwood.org.

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1963

Jordan, Gwendolyn Jetton - Program Planning Specialist, Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory, Brown University

After leaving OWU in 1963, I worked as a caseworker at Summit County Welfare in Akron, Ohio. Then my life and career took me on a path of public service and advocacy around issues of racial and social justice. This path led to State Government in Columbus (1970 -'76); to Director of a non profit (Urban League) in Indiana; to, in 1979, the Chicago Regional Office of HUD where my responsibilities included Community Planning and Development Programs and later, worked with public housing programs in the Chicago Housing Authority. In 1986, I joined the Community Renewal Society as Director of Community Development. This 125 year old non profit, affiliated with the United Church of Christ, focused on issues of racial and economic justice. While at CRS - I was a founder of Catalyst (a nationally acclaimed journal that chronicles Chicago's school reform process);appointed to the Federal Home Loan Bank Board of Chicago; and provided technical assistance and financial support to numerous community based programs and organizations.

After receiving, in 1996, an MPA from Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government,I joined Brown University, Education Alliance Department where I am currently working on public school reform policy issues.

The greatest fortune of my career was the opportunity to know and study with people like Butler A. Jones. He was, for me, a model of integrity and high intellectual standards.

Callentine, M. Katherine (formerly Garrison) - Retired, Teacher, Administrator, and Church Educational Activist.

"To this day I appreciate my study of Africa as I follow their struggles through my church related UMW mission studies. Skills I acquired in my independent study of surveying community demographics was appreciable as I sat on inner city church staffs and boards to understand communities, congregation migration, etc. All of this was a part of my personal life as an active church member and the knowledge and expertise I acquired at OWU enriched my life.

Professionally, immediately following graduation I responded to an urgent plea for Jr. High math and English teachers in Delaware county. I also served in an inner city Columbus church as a director of Christian education. For three years I lived in Germany as a military officer's wife and raised three small children. As a single parent of these wonderful children I was the secretary/treasurer for a real estate firm before returning to the field of child development and education. I was a preschool teacher and preschool/daycare center director and administrator. I moved on to graduate school at The University of Dayton Research Institute to manage a government reentry program contract for scientists and mathematicians to re-train to become electrical engineers for the US Air Force. The challenges were fulfilling and rewarding for me. I am now retired and enjoying life as a grandmother." Ms. Callentine may be contacted at kcallentine@hotmail.com.

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1962

Magree, Jan - can be contacted at mdmagree@cpinternet.com

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1961

Agee, Judy - Special Education Teacher

"Thank you for your interest in my life since OWU. Being a sociology major has been extremely helpful to me in my job and family life. Also, having developed an interest in other cultures, it has made traveling more exciting . . . I do a lot of research before I go anywhere! My first job was that of a special education teacher here in California and New Jersey. This definitely drew upon my sociology background, particularly now that educators are put into the role of instilling values, dealing with families, and solving problems. After 12 years in special education, I spent another 19 years in the regular classroom, where there are always kids with learning disabilities to deal with, and my background made me popular with parents of special needs kids. I also learned to respect and be curious about other cultures, and that seems to have rubbed off on my own children who married partners from India and China! OWU has had a big effect on my life for which I will always be grateful." Ms. Agee may be contacted at Judyagee@aol.com.

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1959

Meyer (formerly Lane), Joanna. Professor and Adult Counselor

I majored in Sociology-Anthropology because I could not get above a D in the psychology department's statistics class, which kept me from experimental, which kept me from the major. Butler A. Jones was a visiting professor in sociology then, and although he was tough and acerbic, he loved the field and he made me want it too, so I switched my major. And then I took a research methods class with Dr. Bayliss that was fine. (Later I came to believe that I could do statistics, given the right teacher. For years I thought it was truly beyond me).

But in 1959, graduate school was not even on my horizon...marriage and children was, and that's the path I took. In 1966, when I was 29 and the mother of 2, I got a job as a social services director for Headstart in Easton, PA, based on my degree in sociology. Later on in 1975, after two more children, I got an M.A. in developmental psychology. (And I learned that the thrust of the psychology department at OWU in the mid-fifties wasn't for me anyhow). Then I did a year of doctoral work in developmental psychology at Emory, while my husband was teaching there for a year. Since then I have taught psychology courses in several colleges here in Vermont, but my main career has been as a mentor, guiding adults through the External Degree Program at Johnson State College from which I just retired, along with teaching psychology courses. (Adult Development, Theories of Personality, History of Psych are my favorites). I currently teach social sciences in the Adult Degree Program at Vermont College, (which just joined with The Union Institute in Cincinnati).

It has been my experience in adult education that there are two ways to approach a major. One is to become stamped with a skill and\or go on to graduate school and make a career out of teaching or research in that field. The second is to have a good liberal arts degree, find a job that requires a degree, and learn what you need to know to do the job. I think there are far more people going the second route. But I do think that in the liberal arts, at least, anthropology is the perfect major, no matter what career one ends up in. And I have certainly never regretted it.

I will also admit that one of my very favorite memories of being in that department was the night that Donald Irish brought us all to his house in the country, and I went out alone and skated on his pond in the moonlight. I wish my life had included more such nights, but so far, that was the only one!  He was such a nice man.

Poulson, Karen (formerly Jacobson) - Accomplished Artist

After graduating from Ohio Wesleyan in 1959, I returned to my early interest in art and became a professional painter. It might appear that this was a giant step away from sociology and anthropology, but that has not been the case. I have been painting since the mid-sixties and virtually all of my work has been inspired by sources from pre-history. I have been particularly drawn to the remnants and marks left by previous generations and my work has reflected this interest over the years. I generally work in a series, returning to some themes many times. A look back at some of my titles clearly reveals my main concerns over the years: Stone Henge, Cave of the Horses, Bone Yard, Shroud, Talisman, Shaman, Ancestor Dance, Petroglyph Wall.

I am married to Barry Poulson, also class of 1959 at OWU (Ph.D., Economics, Ohio State). His work in economic development over the years has enabled us to spend extended periods in Mexico, Japan, England, and, most recently, in Spain (where he lectured in Spanish and I attempted to brush up my speaking skills in the language). Our travels have contributed greatly to my art.

My work deals primarily with man's early beginnings. My paintings often contain specific references to indicators of our past . . . For example, Anasazi ruins and pictography drawings left on canyon walls and rock cuts, indicating not only the layers of the earth, but, more important, man's historical "fingerprints" -- fossils, imbedded bones, remnants, and shards. The method of working is dictated by the historical nature of my subject and involves removal as much as application, i.e., a wearing away or erosion of layers of paint and laminated papers. I also enjoy doing monoprints because of their spontaneous and more direct character."

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1957

Mitchell, Marilou Jones - Clinical Social Worker. LISW, MSW from Ohio State

After completing my degrees, "I worked as a caseworker with neglected children at Methodist Children's Home until 1963. Stayed at home with 4 kids for 15 years. Then I worked in the geriatric field in the Greater Columbus area for over 20 years as a social worker, nursing home administrator, and marketing director for retirement communities.

Most recently I have been a psychotherapist in nursing homes for Harding Hospital, and now am a clinical social worker at the OSU Medical Center psychiatric hospital, older adults unit. Along the way I became certified as a trainer for the Ohio Department of Human Services, but didn't go that direction. I have no plans for retirement since I am only 42!" Marilou Mitchel may be contacted at Mariloujm@gateway.net.

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1954

Andrews, David H. - Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology/Anthropology, Middlebury College

Following his graduation from Ohio Wesleyan David Andrews served in the military from 1954-1956 as U.S. Air Force Group Adjutant and Personnel Officer. He then enrolled in Cornell University, earning his M.A. in 1959 and Ph.D. in 1963 (major: Cultural Anthropology; minors: Sociology and Linguistics). He wrote his doctoral dissertation on "Paucartambo, Pasco, Peru, An Indigenous Community and a Change Program".

Dr. Andrews' career has been primarily in academia: Teaching Assistant and Research Assistant at Cornell (1958-1964), Museum Aide at the Smithsonian Institution (1958), and Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa, followed by Associate then full Professor at Middlebury College (1964-1995).

Dr. Andrews' research and surveys have been primarily focused on Costa Rica and Peru, dealing with a wide variety of issues including "Lifestyles on a College Campus" and "Memory and Anthropological Documents". He has traveled widely and presented numerous papers at professional associations. He has published numerous journal articles, book chapters, and book reviews.

Holloway, Dr. Wendell M. - Vice President, Government Relations, Suburban Hospital Healthcare System, Bethesda, Maryland; OWU Trustee-at-Large (1995-present)

"Dr. Holloway received his B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan in 1954 and his M.S.S.M., M.P.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in 1967, 1971 and 1973 respectively. His accomplishments include: Interim President Emeritus at Bowie State University and retired Ford Motor Company executive and retired Air Force Colonel; founded The McPherson Group, a Washington, DC-based business and governmental relations consulting firm that specializes in matters affecting the transportation industry, higher education and the financial services industry; Ford career was Washington, DC-based and involved representing Ford before Congress and the Executive Branch agencies on product and corporate issues such as financial services, freight transportation, and product liability/tort reform; Air Force career involved pilot duties in the Strategic Air Command, research procurement and, as an Air War College Faculty member; active in Maryland politics and civic affairs.

Currently Dr. Holloway serves on: The Board of Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. He is listed in Who's Who in the East and Who's Who in Finance and Industry and is a member of the Cosmos Club. Spouse: Kay Trent Holloway '58.

Three sons (David, deceased), a daughter and eleven grandchildren."

Wiseman, Vera (Formerly Vera Schultheis) - Retired Professor, Tacoma Community College and Ft.Steilacoom Community College

O.W.U. seems a long way back, now! I married at the end of my junior year and moved to Washington State. After Dick and I had three children, I resumed my education and earned a BA in biology at University of Puget Sound in 1962 -- MA in '67, after one more child. I taught anatomy and physiology at U.P.S. and also taught at Tacoma Community College and Ft.Steilacoom Community College part time.

We've been retired for awhile now and spend more time traveling, hiking and skiing, as well as keeping up with the kids and grandkids.

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1953

Higgins, Glenna - Originator and Manager of an Independent Living Option for Seniors, Social Worker, Volunteer Manager

"I left OWU in 53 having completed my sociology major but not my degree. I did not pursue a career because I chose to major in motherhood for the next 20 years. However, I was very active in many volunteer activities with agencies addressing social concerns, certainly consistent with my sociology interests. I finally went to Capital intending to get a degree in volunteer management and ended up getting a BA with a multidisciplinary major in sociology, business and volunteer management. I became a volunteer manager in a large long term care facility and have been heavily involved with activities supporting volunteer management as a profession in Dayton. I then had an opportunity to become the creator and manager of a unique independent living option for seniors at our facility. The model is still evolving but is working well and may be the only one of its kind. As well as entrepreneur, manager and marketer, I am also considered the social worker. A LSW is not required in this circumstance, but my schooling and years of varied experience have come together to allow me to serve our population very effectively.

People ask all the time why I am still working. I got a very late start, found my way into the perfect job and, with a late in life divorce, have the need for an income for as long as possible. My only wish is that I had let myself bloom a long time ago. There is so much more I want to learn and contribute in an area of real need. I hope I can continue for a few more years.

I guess I was on target at OWU since I'm really feeling great satisfaction and validation with the ultimate integration of my youthful pursuits and the subsequent choices I made."

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1951

Keese Schaeffer, Ruth - Social Service Worker

It was interesting and rewarding to know that the Sociology Department has not forgotten me and is inquiring of my life and career. My time in the Sociology Department was special and I cherish the honorary that I received for my efforts.

I must report that I have not used my degree in a profession but have been a housewife and mother of three. When they were all grown, I worked for 8 years with my husband in his business. He and I retired 9 years ago and have been busier ever since. My background in sociology and psychology has led me to numerous volunteer jobs - all in the social service field. I spent several years with the Red Cross and then switched to Retired and Senior Volunteer Program which directed me to two very rewarding and challenging spots.

One day each week I work with the speech therapist in our local community schools. Since all the handicapped are now main-lined, it is indeed a difficulty position for the teachers. Many "lessons" from my sociology classes have come back to help in dealing with these problems. Another day each week I work at the Cleveland Sight Center with a blind young many who is the activities coordinator for their teen program. Once again I am supported by the teachings of the past. While I have not followed a profession that utilized my college degree, I feel it definitely influenced my life in that it gave me the inclination, impetus and knowledge to volunteer and make a contribution in the social fields.

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1950

Boyers, Mariana - Social Worker

My education in sociology prepared me very well for a career in social work. I enjoyed work as a Deputy Probation Officer, a child protection services worker, a senior medical social worker, District Director of Social Work, and as a clinical social work consultant. In addition, for about ten years I had a small private practice in the evenings while in full time employment. The work was very fulfilling. Of course, I did proceed to get my masters in social work and the masters was required in the medical social work positions. I also had additional training in courses and seminars relating to various psychotherapy modalities, in that this field has always had a fascination for me.

Presently I am developing skills as a water color artist and find that very satisfying at this point in time.

Brick, Peggy (Margaret) Bender - Former Director of Education at Planned Parenthood in Northern New Jersey, High School Teacher. M.A. in Education from Towson State University

How wonderful to learn you are collecting the life stories of OWU alums who majored in sociology/anthropology. Be assured that my experiences at OWU were the perfect foundation for a life of teaching and learning.

Immediately after OWU, I spent a wondrous year in Columbia University's amazing sociology department including Robert Merton, C. Wright Mills, Robert Lynd, and Peter Rossi. After marriage, three years as Program Director at a YWCA, and three children, I received a Master's Degree in Education at Towson State University and then taught psychology and sociology at a local high school for fifteen years.

During that time I developed an interdisciplinary approach to teaching sexuality education which became the basis of the work I did when I became Director of Education at Planned Parenthood in Northern New Jersey. There I wrote numerous articles on sexuality education and popular teaching manuals including "Positive Images: A New Approach to Contraceptive Education, Teaching Safer Sex," and "Bodies, Birth and Babies: Sexuality Education in Early Childhood Programs. '

Now retired, I continue to train educators and health care professionals nationwide and provide workshops for parents on talking with children and adolescent about sex. My three teenaged grandchildren keep me honest! My husband, Allan, an English professor at Hunter College in NYC, keeps me happy!

Hickson, Mary Jean (formerly Mary Jean Sturrock) - Retired Volunteer Activist, Former Case Worker at Welfare Department, Cleveland, Ohio

"After graduation in 1950, I worked in Cleveland as a caseworker for the County Welfare Department. I later worked for the Cleveland American Red Cross becoming director of their residential blood program.

I married Robert Hickson and moved to Mount Gilead, Ohio, where I have been involved in volunteer work with the PTA, Helpline (the crisis line), United Way, church programs and the hospital auxiliary. My latest experience has been with the "Read Program" organized by Governor Taft. I have always felt the training I received at Ohio Wesleyan pointed me in this direction. Thank you for your letter and your interest in graduates from Ohio Wesleyan."

Vogel, Ezra F. -- The Henry Ford II Research Professor at Harvard

After graduating from Ohio Wesleyan in 1950 and serving two years in the U.S. Army, he studied sociology in the Department of Social Relations at Harvard, receiving his Ph.D. in 1958. He then went to Japan for two years to study the Japanese language and conduct research interviews with middle-class families. In 1960-1961 he was assistant professor at Yale University and from 1961-1964 a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard, studying Chinese language and history. He remained at Harvard, becoming lecturer in 1964 and, in 1967, professor. He retired from teaching on June 30, 2000.

Vogel succeeded John Fairbank to become the second Director (1972-1977) of Harvard's East Asian Research Center and Chairman of the Council for East Asian Studies (1977-1980). He was Director of the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations at the Center for International Affairs (1980-1987) and, since 1987, Honorary Director. He was Chairman of the undergraduate concentration in East Asian Studies from its inception in 1972 until 1991. He was Director of the Fairbank Center (1995-1999) and the first Director of the Asia Center (1997-1999).

Drawing on his original field work in Japan, he wrote Japan's New Middle Class (1963). A book based on several years of interviewing and reading materials from China, Canton Under Communism (1969), won the Harvard University Press faculty book of the year award. The Japanese edition of his book Japan as Number One: Lessons for America (1979) is the all-time best-seller in Japan of non-fiction by a Western author. In Comeback (1988), he suggested things America might do to respond to the Japanese challenge. His most recent publication is Is Japan Still Number One? (2000). He spent eight months in 1987, at the invitation of the Guangdong Provincial Government, studying the economic and social progress of the province since it took the lead in pioneering economic reform in 1978. The results are reported in One Step Ahead in China: Guangdong Under Reform (1989). His Reischauer Lectures were published in The Four Little Dragons: The Spread of Industrialization in East Asia (1991). He has visited East Asia every summer since 1958 and has spent a total of some six years in Asia.

Vogel has received honorary degrees from Kwansei Gakuin (Japan), Universities of Maryland, Massachusetts (Lowell), Wittenberg, Bowling Green, Albion, Ohio Wesleyan, Chinese University (Hong Kong) and Yamaguchi University (Japan). He received The Japan Foundation Prize in 1996 and the Japan Society Prize in 1998. He has lectured frequently in Asia, in both Chinese and Japanese.

From fall 1993 to fall 1995, Vogel took a two-year leave of absence from Harvard to serve as the National Intelligence Officer for East Asia at the National Intelligence Council in Washington. He directed the American Assembly on China in November 1996 and the Joint Chinese-American Assembly between China and the United States in 1998.

He is married to Charlotte Ikels, professor of anthropology at Case Western University and has three children – David, Steven, and Eve.

Wheaton, Barbara (Dippel) - Retired. Case Worker, the Division of Youth and Family Services in New Jersey

"After graduation in 1950, I worked for a year in the Anthropology and Psychology Library at Columbia Univesrsity in NYC. I found that positions for new BA graduates were limitd to jobs in agencies like the YWCA or low-paying jobs in day care or settlement houses.

I married and did not work again until I took graduate courses 20 years later at Columbia and New York University. After volunteering for my field work for the Division of Youth and Family Services in New Jersey, I took a full-time position as a case worker in that agency, working with abused children. My economic situation prevented me from completing my Social Work Degree (Field placement would have given me no income during a divorce). I continued at the Division for thirteen years, four of them as a supervisor.

I retired at age 60 but retured to work for a private agency providing forster care for adopable children for seven years. I am now retired but do many volunteer jobs such as after school tutoring in an underpriviledged neighborhood and feeding homeless people.

One of the advantages of this major was my lifelong involvement with others working for social and political causes. I was active in the League of Women Voters, acting as an officer for many years. During the years I was raising my children, I was always able to develop these interests.

My regret is not completing my Master's Degree. At the time, it didn't seem so important, but is necessary for many jobs that could be open to me, even as I am retired.

Good luck to all of your students. Tell them it has helped me have a rewarding life." Ms. Wheaton may be contacted at PandABrick@aol.com.

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1949

Farber, Avis V. (formerly Avis Butman) - Retired Case Manager

"Although many of the early years following my graduation from OWU in 1949 were devoted to marriage and raising a family of five children, I found time to do some volunteer work, such as organist, church school teacher, Sunday School superintendent, and accompanist for a professional violinist. Later I was a Girl Scout leader.

As time went by and I became a divorcee, I found work in a variety of areas under the umbrella of social services. These included Executive Director of a child care center and Social Services and Activities Director in a nursing home.

At the age of 60, I was hired by the State of Oregon as a case manager for the Senior and Disabled Services Division. Not only did I carry a large case load, but I also licensed adult foster homes. After eight years, I retired.

I still continue with serving others. I have been very active in the Adult Foster Grandparent program and am in my fifth year in the SMART (Start Making A Reader Today) program. In this program volunteers read to first, second and third graders on a one-to-one basis weekly.

I knew at the age of eleven that I wanted to be a social worker and geared my education and activities to enhance that desire. In addition to a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in sociology and minors in psychology and music, I also hold a Master of Science Degree in general studies with an emphasis on psychology and counseling. I received this from Southern Oregon State College in 1979.

I have also had a private practice of counseling and continue to do so on an informal basis."

Swomley, James Anthony - Health Association Executive

Following my graduation from Ohio Wesleyan, I studied at Wayne State University, earning an M.H.A. in 1956. I began my career as a field representative for the N.D. Lung Association (1950-52) and proceeded to serve as executive director (1952-57). From 1957-80 I served as executive director of the Connecticut Lung Association in East Hartford and then as the managing director of the American Lung Association in New York City from 1980-90. I have also served on the Connecticut Public Health Association (1963-64), as the president of the National Health Council (1983-85), and on the Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Paris (1987-91). My public work has also included serving as Councilman in Bloomfield, Connecticut (1969-75), member of the Bloomfield Board of Education (1965-69) and vice chairman (1967-69), state representative of the 17th Assembly District of the Connective General Assembly (1976-80), chairman of the Connecticut State Department of Health Hospitals (1971-75), and secretary of the Connecticut Public Health Council (1971-75). I was recipient of the Service Award from the Bloomfield Jaycees in 1965.

I marry June Elizabeth Kutchera in 1954 and we are the parents of three sons, Mark, Bruce and Daniel.

Tanger, Jean W. (formerly Jeannie Watts) - Nursing

Thank you for remembering me. I spent two years at OWU starting in the fall of 1945. I then transferred to Western Reserve School of Nursing where I graduated in 1950. After one year of working in a Psychiatry Unit, I became a full-time Mom - 5 children. Later I came back to nursing and did 15 years of Public Health. It is hard to evaluate all of one's background, but I am sure some of those classes led me to choose the nursing career.

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1948

Browne, Martha (formerly Martha J. Wells) - Retired. Social Caseworker. Artist

How has my education in sociology and anthropology contributed to my life in the more than fifty years since I graduated? I have been trying to trace the development of my thinking and values in order to write them down for my children and grandchildren. Your query has helped me to focus on this aspect.

I was burdened (or blessed) with a social conscience when I arrived at Delaware that autumn day in 1944. And there was Milton Yinger to reinforce my feelings with facts, ideas and opinions backed up by strong scholarship and instruction in critical thinking. His courses were intellectually and emotionally stimulating; he was probably something of a guru. After graduation I worked a couple of years as a social caseworker in the Department of Public Welfare in Gary, Indiana, in the Aid to Dependent Children and Child Placement programs. Then I married and never returned to the field professionally. However, the ideas and ideals engendered by my undergraduate courses and subsequent thinking and reading contributed to our family life. We succeeded in instilling respect for people regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation and class (although we may harbor some smugness toward those we deem less "enlightened").

I became an artist (painter) and teacher working in alternative schools, settlement houses and social agencies; an indirect but real result of my college training. After I closed my studio and stopped teaching I worked as a volunteer telephone counselor in an agency dedicated to prevention of child abuse by helping young parents with parenting skills. Another volunteer job has been reading to inner-city children to introduce them to the world of books and use of the library.

Now my husband and I live in a retirement community. I have just published a photo-essay book showing the varieties of activities older people can and do engage in with their various abilities, interests and disabilities. I have arranged to do similar studies with other groups by showing the range of life possibilities to people retired from their life's work - I am combining a sociological curiosity with my art. My grades were about average in college; but real learning took place there. Thank you for the opportunity to explore that time of my life and its subsequent influence.

Chambers Dilatush, Lois - Retired Teacher and Researcher

After my graduation in 1948, I went to Oberlin College on a National Mortar Board Scholarship and received an MA in sociology in 1950. My work following that time included a couple of social work type positions -- in Tacoma, Washington and later in Denver, Colorado. I also had the opportunity to use my research skills, acquired in sociology classes, to do a neighborhood needs assessment study in Denver.

In 1964 my son and daughter and I moved from Denver to Boulder, Colorado, where I received an NIMH fellowship to work on my Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Colorado. I worked hard on my studies, took care of my children, and also earned urgently needed extra money as a tutor for members of the CU freshman football squad. I moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico in the Fall of 1966 to teach on a joint appointment in the Sociology Department and the School of Medicine of the University of New Mexico. I received my Ph.D. in January, 1967. While at New Mexico, I was involved in a research project that studied the process of medical education. (My MA thesis was on the urban Protestant church, and my Ph.D. dissertation dealt with the process of release from mental hospital to community.)

I moved to Denver after three and one-half years at UNM, and in January, 1970 I began teaching at Metropolitan State College of Denver, a four-year college located in downtown Denver. While at MSCD I was involved in two different research projects, both of which were published as collected articles in book form. Both dealt with the changing roles of women in society -- one in Japan and one in Southeast Asia. I served as Department Chair at MSCD from 1985 to 1988. Then in the Fall of 1988 I was privileged to teach sociology graduate students at the People's University in China in Beijing, PRC. My students there did a study of the career plans and attitudes toward higher education of undergraduate students on the campus. Unfortunately, this study could not be published because my students would have been endangered by publication after the Tian An Men tragedy in 1989. I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent in Beijing, joined the masses of bicyclists to explore Beijing's many wonders, and loved spending that time in the country of my birth. (I was born in Shanghai and lived there until I was fourteen.) Upon my return to MSCD, I continued to teach research methods (including the computer, using SPSS to analyze data from class studies; I introduced the computer when we were still using the main frame), sociological theory, sociology of religion, gender roles, the family, and introductory sociology and social issues.

I retired from teaching at the end of the Fall semester, 1991. Since then I have continued to study the Chinese language, have traveled a lot, and have been very active in the Denver and the Colorado League of Women Voters. A committee I chaired completed a two-year study of the City of Denver's juvenile justice system, and a state committee of which I was a member has just this Fall completed a study of the state juvenile justice system. Now we begin lobbying efforts!

So -- you can see that I have "lived" sociology ever since I left Ohio Wesleyan, and I am sure that my major there set me on the career path that I have followed. GOOD LUCK TO ALL YOUR STUDENTS!

Huffman, Mary Lois (formerly Mary Lois Lacy) - Retired substitute teacher and secretary

For 30 years I stayed home with my family, raising five children. I served as a substitute teacher and have been very active in church work. While my husband was employed in Saudi Arabia I provided clerical support for the British Military Hospital and the Bureau of Information and Economics.

My husband and I continue to be active - working on our family genealogy and supporting the endeavors of our children. One daughter, Jennifer Stewart, just completed a successful run for a place on the Ohio State Board of Education. Two daughters are nurses and one is a French teacher in Columbus. Our son, a graduate of West Point, is a very successful business man. It has been a good life!

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1947

Austin, Sally D. (formerly Sally Du Gar) - Retired Teacher

Sally had 30+ hours post A.B. for teacher certification at Bucknell and Mansfield. She has taught elementary school, kindergarten and Head Start. She has also been a hearing-aid consultant and an activities director in a nursing home. Sally has been a coordinator of volunteers for the areas' Agency on Aging. She has also taught different kinds of ballroom dancing with her husband and done exhibition dancing with him - Swing, Cajun, Polish- American Polka, Square, Folk, and Clogging.

Sally has been happily married to Ben for 51 years. Ben is a retired Professor of Mechanical Engineering. They have two daughters (a Pittsburgh attorney and a managing editor of a computer magazine) and a son, who is a cab driver.

Miller, Virginia V. (formerly Virginia B. Vince) - Retired. Social Worker

I graduated in June of 1947 from Ohio Wesleyan University and went to work as a social worker in a small county agency a week later. A lady who had been there for years trained me in the daily tasks of a social worker. She knew she was dying of cancer and it was imperative that I learn from her what a social worker actually did. She died within the year. I had the fundamental book knowledge from Ohio Wesleyan and the on the job training from her.

I worked for six years in general casework, which included protective services, foster care placements, foster home studies, unwed mother cases and adoptions. I married in 1952 and resigned a year later. I had a baby girl in 1955 and returned to work one day per week when she was three years old. I did home studies for stepfather adoptions. As my daughter grew older, I worked three to four days per week doing all the adoptions - both agency and stepfather. When she entered high school, I worked full time.

Through my years in social work, I observed the changing cycles regarding illegitimate children and how unwed mothers dealt with the pregnancy: 1) pregnant girls going to maternity homes; 2) many illegitimate babies going for adoption; 3) pregnant girls performing abortions themselves or going to "back alleys" for abortions; 4) legal abortions in New York and girls flying there with the alleged father paying the bills; 5) the Roe-Wade controversy; and, 6) finally girls keeping their babies. I have placed children of all ages, races and nationalities (children from foreign countries).

In the 1960's, the federal government joined with the county government and provided more money in the area of adoption. My salary was raised, more social workers were hired and there was an increase in the amount of paperwork required. I eventually became a supervisor and supervised two social workers in adoption. During the last few years that I worked, I supervised the Staff Development for the agency and retired in 1981 after working 26.5 years with the same county agency. Because of the many children I placed for adoption and because I have remained in the same general area, I see some of the adoptive parents and the children, who are now adults. Overall, I have been pleased with most of the placements that I did; but also have been disappointed with some of the adoptive parents and the children as well.

Even though there were many pressures and often a great deal of stress, I found my career in social work to be a rewarding career. My advice to any student in social work programs today at Ohio Wesleyan would be for them to do a practicum and/or internship with a social worker or a social services agency to learn the everyday experiences of a social worker who deals with the public that are in need.

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1946

Kovalick, Ms. Dorris (formerly Dillon) - Teacher and Volunteer

I have enjoyed 56 years of "do-gooding" since leaving Ohio Wesleyan in 1946. Following graduation my husband and I studied at Wittenberg College. I took education courses and became qualified to teach. Because of my sociological background I volunteered to teach in an All-Black school in the Springfield Public School system. This lasted four years until our move to Florida. My husband and I became Unitarians and lived in Orlando when desegregation of the schools took place. We secretly (with the NAACP and Liberal Jewish Temple) signed up Black children to go to the integrated schools the following fall. That summer I tutored Black children to prepare them for the move. I marched down the streets of Orlando with the Ku Klux Klan lined up on both sides of the street.

We moved to Denver in 1970 for three years and I joined the anti-war group and peace marched. I was a Democratic delegate to the County and State Presidential Convention in 1972 (although I was active in the Socialist Party USA while in Ohio).

We then moved to the New Orleans area in 1973-1986 where I became a member of the National Organization for Women and with the Unitarians was also active in Black/White issues. I helped establish the American Federation of Teachers as the bargaining unit for the St. Tammany Parish School system. (I was also the Union Rep in Florida for my school.)

We retired back to Florida in 1986. I reactivated a Pasco County Chapter of the National Organization for Women and have been on the Board since then (1989). We have an active chapter in a VERY Conservative area and have effected many positive changes, including a Domestic Violence Unit in the local Sheriff's Department. I am active in the Greens Party and have been the Social Concerns person in the local Unitarian Church. I answer the State NOW phone in my home as well as the local chapter phone. I am VERY busy.

Looking back I realize I owe my activism to my professors at OWU - Sarvis, Yinger, Sears - and my lifelong enjoyment of good literature to Spencer and Davies.

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1945

Foster, Katherine D. - Nurse, Public Health Administration, Director of Nursing

I entered college in 1941 as a sociology major. Perhaps I would become a social worker - I had heard one speak at a high school assembly. Perhaps I would become a nurse in a prison. I was taking a course in criminology.

Finishing my sophomore year, I worked at a YWCA/YMCA camp center in Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. A new dietician arrived and I thought back to that high school idea - study to be a dietician. With limited faculty or family advice, I changed majors. Then, a year later, went back to sociology.

By my senior year I had enrolled at the Yale University School of Nursing and was accepted for the September 1945 class. Two and a half years later I received a M.N. from Yale. I think my "major" changes had little to do with my entrance to Yale. An OWU friend was going to Yale Divinity, plus 2-3 men - wouldn't that be fun? I would be much closer to home, Brooklyn, New York, and decrease the long train ride.

I had a great career in nursing ending with four terms in the state legislature, New Hampshire. I had several different roles prior in administration, public health, including an M.Ph. in Public Health at Chapel Hill. Pediatric nursing was my favorite clinical field. I was a Director of Nursing at the University of Connecticut prior to marriage.

My curriculum vita, which I could copy and send you if you thought it helpful, details most of my positions. Yale required a college degree for its M.N. program so we were a select group. Today, they offer a doctoral program which impressed me greatly at my 50th reunion two years ago.

I am now retired in Hanover close to Dartmouth. I have lived in New England most of my life, especially in New Hampshire. I live in a continuing care community center (250 independent, 30-40 assisted care and 30-40 in nursing care). A quick visit two years ago to the Monnett senior housing - I think ours is very special - one has to be 65 or s spouse must be (we are 62-98).

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1944

Schumacher, Winifred (formerly Winifred Temple)

I'm writing in response to your request concerning how my sociology major might have prepared me for my career and life. It takes some thought since I was married just 6 months following graduation and since then have never worked (for pay) outside my home. I had started working on a Masters degree in Social Work while working at a Family and Children's Society, but this was interrupted by a move to Colorado so my husband could attend the Navy's language school and learn Japanese.

We have 5 daughters and, like most mothers of that generation, I stayed home - and was very happy to do so. I was a busy volunteer for social service work, helping in school libraries, etc.

So - though I didn't have a career, I certainly feel that the college experience made me a rounded person, and contributed greatly to life in general.

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1943

Ford, Erma K. (formerly Erma Spangler) - Teacher, Librarian

"I graduated in 1943; went to the University of Chicago and Kent Status University where I received a Masters degree in Library Science. I taught; raised three children. I am nearly 80.

I am writing immediately as I don't feel I have much to say in your field. I tried social case work, Settlement House group work, and transferred to Education where I learned that Library was my field and my talent. As a mother I spent "extra time" for 30 years in the Great Books Discussion groups. This was a gem as was the child-raising. As I wrote in the alum magazine "Ohio Wesleyan helped me to love learning, have social ideals, mental balance; but most of all my children gave me life".

Update 04/29/2004 - Daughter, Peggy Good-Cordero reported the peaceful passing of Erma Kathryn Spangler Perdue Ford on March 6, 2004. To send the family a message please go to www.LAfuneral.com (White & Day Mortuary).

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1942

Maloney, Paul Jr. -- Retired Teacher. M.A. in Education from Florida Atlantic University

I went to Army after graduation. Then I went to Florida Atlantic University and received my Master Degree in Education in 1966. I taught in Florida schools until 1982. My wife, Marguerite Lloyd, who was also a graduate of OWU, passed away in 1996.

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1936

Bodley, Lewis William - Social Worker

Following graduation from Ohio Wesleyan, I attended Case Western Reserve University School of Applied Social Sciences from where I earned a Master of Science in Social Administration (major - Social Group Work) in 1938.

My work experience included five years as a group worker and camp director in a Settlement House in Cleveland, Ohio, plus 40 years in the Young Men's Christian Association in Toledo, Ohio, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Cincinnati, Ohio. I retired in 1980 after nine years as General Director/C.E.O. of the YMCA of Cincinnati and Hamilton County with 10 branches.

I have served on various boards, committees and in clubs in my church, local community and at the regional and national level (especially with the YMCA). More recently I helped organize the Alumni Chapter of Case Western Reserve (served as president and board member), served as president of the OWU Class of 1936 (1991, 1996 and 2001), and sang in church choirs and the Rotary Club Chorus.

Dr. Charles Coulter, former Chairman of the Sociology Department, influenced my life to work with people.

Moss, Dorothy M. (formerly Dorothy J. Main) - Retired. Social Worker and Propation Officer

At the exciting age of 88½, I am happy to report my head is still in good shape - but my body is falling apart!

I started working in Jergen County, New Jersey - first as a social worker, then as a probation officer - loved both jobs. After several years my husband and I moved to Vermont. There I was a state supervisor of child welfare and eventually became the state director of adoptions. This included a trip to Korea escorting babies back to the U.S. Needless to say I enjoyed every aspect of all my jobs.

Frankly, in 1936 sociology wasn't much of a course and all I remember is learning the meaning of "recidivism" - came in handy in probation test! It is my modest opinion that personality counts most of all in this work. You have to really like people and be able to communicate with all kinds of people.

After I retired from Vermont, a private agency in New Hampshire offered me a job, but by then I had set my heart on warm weather and Florida. For a short time I was a "guardian" and intern for the juvenile court but the system was riddled with poor social work and no training so I really retired. I couldn't have had a happier career!

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1934

A. Elizabeth Fry Hall - Social Worker

Enjoyed working at Alta House one summer as arranged by Dr. Coulter. Worked in County Relief in Cleveland after college then a homemaker after marriage. Worked as a volunteer at two hospitals in the Cleveland area and was very active in church activities. Volunteered and supported the work of the Salvation Army and remains active on their board as an honorary member.

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1933

Hays, Eleanor Jones - Retired Teacher

Records will show that I graduated from OWU in 1933. That is a long time ago! After graduating I returned to my parents' home in Tonkawa, Oklahoma. It was in the midst of the depression - jobs were hard to find, especially social service jobs in a small town. Having earned a teaching certificate before going to OUU, I found a job teaching a one room, rural school - all grades, 1-8 in one room! This I did for six years then married and started our family - 2 sons. I did substitute teaching while the children were young and went in full-time when our older son entered Dental School. I retired from teaching in 1976.

Two courses I took at OWU were invaluable - "Rural Sociology" and Race Relations". I hope you still offer these courses! My professors were Dr. Charles Coulter, Mr. Lawrence Brown and Mr. L. G. Cramer. Sociology was a fine major for me for my life has been spent dealing with people, teaching, church activities, social activities and adapting to life situations.

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1932

Melvin, Ms. Ruth W. (formerly Ruth E. Wertenberger) - Social Worker, Educator

In answer to your letter of October 30th let me say I am pleased that my activities may be of interest to you. At the outset I must admit that the courses I took to obtain a major in sociology do not easily come to mind. It has been a long time. I also claim that most effective social workers obtain their basic information at their mother's knee!

My social work began in college with two summers being a counselor in a sociology camp sponsored by Western Reserve, and one at the House of Happiness, a settlement house in Chicago. Immediately after college I began working for the Federal Emergency Relief Agency as a case worker. It was the depression! I was employed both in Columbus and subsequently in Chillicothe, Ohio.

When my youngest of six children was seven years old, I accepted the position of executive director of the Delaware County Council of Social Agencies. I do remember being helped in my work by a course in community organization which I audited from Dr. Don Irish. I think I'm a hands-on person who needs to apply principles directly to activity! (This is an education policy which the years have demonstrated for me and my children, as well as those whom I have taught, to be the most effective means of getting an education!)

We moved to Pittsburgh after three years is that position at which time I took a job as district advisor in the Greater Pittsburgh Area Girl Scout Council. From there we went to Columbus where I was employed by the Seal of Ohio Girl Scout Council as first, district advisor, then as program director. I became disenchanted with working with board member, very opinionated volunteers in that organization and left it to become the assistant to the executive director of the Ohio Academy of Science. There I directed the activities of the Junior Academy and became involved with environment education. This led me to compiling information about outdoor education areas to assist teachers and donors and three books were published, two by the Department of Natural Resources in cooperation with the Academy, one with the State Department of Education. These volumes were distributed to schools and libraries and foundations in Ohio. While working at the Academy, I spent seven summers as instructor of geology at the Wisconsin National Audubon Camp. My work as a consultant to the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus culminated in a publication by the Ohio Geological Survey. The original objective was to provide urban teachers with field trip material which would enhance the image of the city.

My ancient volunteer activities were primarily with school systems and largely through parent education programs with the National Parent and Teacher organizations. More recently I have been helping to organize environmental groups, incorporator of both the Ohio Environmental Council and the Ohio Alliance for the Environment. I served as president of the Alliance, president of the Ohio Conservation and Outdoor Education Association (now ECCO), the American Nature Study Association, trustee of the Ohio Chapter of the Nature Conservancy. Since moving to Delaware, I have served as board member, president and advisory board member for People In Need, secretary for several years of the League of Women Voters of Delaware County. I also represented Delaware County on the four county Solid Waste Management Policy Committee. My major contribution, if any, was to support environmental education programs in the schools and grants to Ohio Wesleyan programs. Incidentally, somewhere along the line I took time to be a lecturer at Capital University in geology and geography.

This may be more than you want to know about me! It has been fun to put it together. If there is any way I can be of assistance, let me know. I'm 91 years of age and cannot guarantee that I will be useful much longer.

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1931

Knight, Theodora (formerly Theodora Sommer) - Social Worker and Volunteer

Thank you for your letter inquiring about my life and work since I graduated in 1931. At that time the department was called the Sociology Department. Dr. Charles W. Coulter was head but most of my courses were taught by L. Guy Brown. Llewelyn Cramer was also a member of the Department.

By my sophomore year I realized I wanted to major in Sociology, so at the end of that year I applied for summer work at our local (Erie, PA) Family Service Society. I explained that I wished to be there mainly to find out what their work was like. I was paid fifteen dollars a week, although I would have been happy to be there with no compensation. The workers were extremely nice to me and also glad to have my help. I read many case histories and visited the various homes using the suggestions of my caseworkers. Some of the histories were many inches thick for these families had been on relief for years, and it seemed hopeless to work with them as they were unable to change themselves and wanted only financial relief forever. In addition, many people were applying for relief for the first time as it was at the beginning of the Great Depression and I also helped to take their applications.

The Family Service workers asked me if I were willing to help the YWCA in forming a new club for girls who probably would not be going to college when they graduated from high school. It would be called the Industrial Club. I found the names of these girls in the files of the Family Service Society. They were all between the ages of 15- 17 and were pleased to be invited. As far as I know, this club went on for years. That summer work made me realize how frustrating that work with adults could be. When I started my junior year at Wesleyan I began to steer my courses toward working with children, especially abnormal cases.

In my senior year I commuted to Columbus and did practical casework under the supervision of a social worker there and my professor at Wesleyan. I took more psychology and education courses. When I graduated I had a major in Sociology and minors in Psychology and Education.

The spring of my graduation (1931) the position of Visiting Teacher for the Child Guidance Clinic opened in my hometown. The clinic was part of the Child Study Department in Erie, PA. I applied and was accepted, but the Superintendent suggested that I complete my Education requirements since I would be dealing with teachers and principals. Accordingly, I took the one remaining requirement, student teaching, that summer at the University of Pittsburgh. I taught a class in Civics to junior high students.

In September 1931, I began my work at the Child Study Department, preparing histories for the neuro-psychiatrist and making appointments for the clinic, which was held for two days every month. I also continued working on the cases ongoing from the former Visiting Teacher. My case load was about one hundred families. We seldom closed a case. Most of our cases were referred by the school principals but many were referred by parents and social workers. Our psychologist, the head of our department, would then give the child an intelligence test and determine whether the child should be referred to me, and go to the clinic, or to the other visiting teaching who dealt with more criminal behaviors.

In preparing a history I visited the homes, the teachers, principals, parents, relatives, family doctors, social workers {if involved} and obtained the physical and school history of the child, siblings and relatives. Following the child's examination by the neuro-psychiatrist, a plan was suggested to alleviate the problem. It was then up to me to carry out this plan. I drew upon all persons needed, our best doctors, oculists, etc. for tests and treatment if necessary. The teachers and principals were glad to cooperate. Our problems ran the gamut from discovering the reason a child's mental ability was deteriorating (due to Congenital Syphilis which his family had known nothing about) to the case of a 16 year old boy who stammered very badly. I learned that his affliction started at age eight when his third grade teacher insisted he change to using his right hand instead of his preferred left. With the suggestions that he change back to using his left hand, his stammering disappeared. Another case involved a 12-year old girl who was afraid to go to sleep for fear she might swallow her tongue. There was so much satisfaction when we could help these troubled children.

My starting salary was $1,400 and I received a raise of $100 each year after that. I loved my work. I felt well prepared for it and so lucky to be able to step into the work of the Child Guidance Clinic and feel confident that I could do a good job. Child Guidance Clinics were rather new at this time – Erie was ahead of its time.

The courses I found most helpful in my work were Abnormal Psychology, Crime, The Family, and Measurements (which involved testing children and learning to prepare case histories.)

In 1932, I attended a summer session at Ohio State to work toward my masters degree as a psychiatric social worker. It was there that I met my future husband, Earl Knight. When we married in 1937, I resigned my work and we moved to Pittsburgh where my husband taught at Duquesne University. I became the mother of two children, a son, Richard, and a daughter, Nancy, who graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1962.

I never went back to Child Guidance Clinic work. I turned to volunteer work, such as chauffeuring people to doctors, serving Meals on Wheels, teaching conversational English to the wives of foreign students, teaching reading to adults, helping organize a local Golden Age Club and later, a local chapter of the AARP. I also directed seven plays for my church, such as "You Can’t Take It With You" and an "Old Fashioned Fashion Show". I also served as president of the United Methodist Women and president of the Adult Sunday School Class of 80 members. I was a Girl Scout Leader and worked with many committees on the Methodist Home for Children Auxiliary. All the above activities cover about sixty years and kept me very busy. I am not 91 years of age.

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1930

Allen, Mary Margaret - Relief Agencies, Social Worker, Volunteer

Immediately after graduation from Ohio Wesleyan, I completed a two-year course in Family Case Work at the now named Maridel School of Applied Social Science at Western Reserve University. This graduate work was only possible in those Depression Days because the school had a cooperative arrangement with the Associated Charities in Cleveland to give stipends for part-time work in the agency. As the Depression deepened, the private agency could no longer meet relief needs and public funds became available. Eventually these were entirely federal funds and I worked in the various programs as they were introduced. Federal Emergency Relief, WPA, and Public Assistance under numerous changes in Department names. In August 1970, I resigned from the Bureau of Public Assistance in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare at the regional office in Chicago, Illinois. Work assignments took me to many locations in Ohio, to three states in the regional office in Cleveland and three additional states in the regional office in Chicago.

Two years later I moved to El Castillo Retirement Residences in New Mexico. This is a life-care facility with three levels of care, independent, assistant living and nursing. I am now the oldest in residency and have been active in the Residents Association through my 28 years here. The number of times I've held office or chaired committees are beyond count. My activities have not been confined to El Castillo. I've been on the Board of Deacons at church and the Board of Community Organizations. As a representative of these I've worked for services of benefit to the community. For example, I appeared several times before City Council regarding the need for public transportation. On the State level, I followed legislation on social issues and attended hearings. In the 80's the Governor appointed me to a State Advisory Committee on Aging which I chaired for two years. I have a certificate from NASW recognizing me as a Pioneer Member.

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1928

Murray, Janet P. (formerly Janet Page) - Retired - Social Worker

"I graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with a major in Sociology and a minor in Psychology. Clyde Murray, a classmate to whom I was engaged, had majored in Philosophy and Religion, but switched to Sociology his senior year when he decided to go into social work instead of religion. Together we went on to the Western Reserve School of Applied Sciences for two years of graduate work in Social Group Work, including some courses in Care Work. I cannot write of my experience without including his, for we were partners the rest of our lives, sometimes working together, sometimes in jobs that complimented each other.

In graduate school my field work assignment entailed demonstrating and conducting recreation in a number of institutions, including a convalescent hospital for children. There I established a recreation program which I continued until our first child was born. Meantime, on graduation, Clyde was employed half-time to supervise YMCA students and half-time on the faculty of SASS, but soon full-time to the latter, where he worked at University Settlement, the training center for students.

In 1935 we went to Pittsburgh for Clyde to become the director of a small settlement. By 1940 the settlement had added other centers and had 54 full-time workers.

Meantime I was persuaded to become the first social worker to help the Junior League members. I will spend the next 12 years resigning to stay home with my family and being persuaded to work part-time someone's project.

In 1940 Clyde was appointed head worker of Union Settlement in New York City. We took our daughters, 3½ and 7, to live in residence here in East Harlem, the neighborhood then mostly Italian with Puerto Ricans moving in.

We planned that I should not work, but take care of the girls, drive them to private schools. But when Clyde lost so much staff as they left for war, I was drafted to direct two of our camps, Ellen Marvin for mothers and children 2-6 years and the adjoining girls camp in the Bear Mountain Park. In the winter I handled the volunteers - eventually near 100 - to replace staff. I stopped this as staff came back, but continued the camps until I insisted I must spend the last few years before our last child left home.

When Sue went off to boarding school, I spent several years as campaign director for the New York City Planned Parenthood - a job I hated. But I realized later the experience was very important as preparation for my next job as Assistant Director of United Neighborhood Homes, the Federation of New York City Settlement and Neighborhood Homes, about 30 agencies, some with branches. We consulted with their staffs, arranged exchange of experiences between them - conferences, etc. About 3 years in, at pressures from our agencies, we organized a supplemental fund raising program for the centers, all of whom were hurting for funds over and above what they could raise.

Meantime, after 9 years Clyde had been persuaded to leave Union Settlement to become director of Manhattanville Settlement on 124th Street, sponsored by all the Institutions on "the Hull" Columbia, Union Theological Seminary, and 10 others. Also his appointment included coordination of community activities for Columbia and all its schools, a dual appointment. Clyde worked closely with UNH too.

In 1958 Clyde became Assistant Dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Chicago, then went on to direct the Mental Health Society and eventually on to the staff of Welfare Council, the planning body for the social agencies of Chicago. He was drafted to be program director of the All City War on Poverty, while on leave of absence, and finally back to Welfare Council.

Meantime, I was not too well, so only did consultant jobs - a study for the Hull House Board to help them plan their future. At the request of the Community Fund, a study of the Japanese American Service Committee, set up when the Japanese-Americans were let out of the internment camps. I and others were called twice to Welfare Council to evaluate agency programs for Community Fund hearing - staying on the second time until they could get Clyde back from the War on Poverty. Because of nepotism, I left when he returned.

On his retirement, Clyde continued attending an organization of all the senior citizen programs which had been among his responsibilities. Seeing a need for special services to get employment for older people, he formed a committee which, after much exploration, organized "Operation Able". The initial thought had been to establish a special employment agency for them. Instead they stimulated all employment agencies to have a specialist. Eventually there were retraining programs, counseling to people changing jobs. He was a very creative person and they still give out the "Clyde Murray" award for the employment advisor who most closely emulates Clyde for his advising and inventiveness in helping people.

I've probably written too much, but you either tell it like it is or say - sorry, you were too busy. Clear, good education at OWU, the whole experience with classmates on the campus and our beloved professors gave us a wonderful start. And this is where we went.

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1927

Hoy, Russell - Retired. Pastor, the East Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church. Teacher, Oberlin Theological Seminary. Columnist, the Ohio Farmer

Russell Hoy was born on November 28, 1904. He graduated from Bristol High School, Ohio Wesleyan University, Garret Theological Seminary and received an Honorary Doctorate from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1949.

For 44 years, Hoy was a pastor in the East Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church. As such, he was, at various points in his career, affiliated with churches in Rolling Prairie, Indiana and numerous Ohio communities including Churchill, Nevada, Union, McConnelsville, Canal, Lewisville and Keene. Also while pastor, from 1945 to 1991, Hoy wrote a popular column, "The Country Parson Ponders," published in the Ohio Farmer magazine. He served six interim pastorates after he retired.

Additionally, Hoy was Chaplain of the Ohio State Grange, 1941-1955; Farmer’s Institute Speaker, 1941-1951; member of the Ohio State Board of Education, 1956-1968; and he taught courses at Oberlin Theological Seminary in Ohio and Gammon Theological School in Georgia. For 25 years, Rev. Hoy was a member of the Town & Country Dept. Of the Ohio Council of Churches; wrote Sunday School lessons for the Adult Student Quarterly for the United Methodist Church; and he was a delegate to six General Conferences of the United Methodist Church, 1948-1970.

Hoy currently resides in a Methodist retirement home in Columbus, Ohio. Many of the writings from Hoy’s column have since been collected into a volume entitled The Country Parson. For more information about the book, or to order a copy, contact Jean Hoy Youell at (614) 766-2543.

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